Smile
by lighthouselullaby13
Summary: Before she met him, she smiled. When she met him, she smiled. Becoming friends with him, she smiled. Learning the truth about him, her smile wavered. Learning to accept him and his ways, her smile vanished.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Smile

Disclaimer: Yeah, I own nothing.

I'll tell you this now because I won't mention it during the story. Syaoran is 24, he's been modeling since he was sixteen. Sakura is 21, freshly graduated from Tomoeda University with a Bachelor's degree in design.

Chapter 1:

"Is the stage ready!?" yelled the director of the commercial. According to him, every tiny detail had to be at its utmost best, meaning no mistakes were to be tolerated. He was a pain in the butt; all of his staff couldn't agree more. What drove the director to be such a perfectionist was beyond the minds of what his staff, or anyone else for that matter, thought. They had guessed, no doubt, among various reasons as to why he acted as if a stick was pushed up his butt, and had been sentenced to stay there for eternity.

The first reason they thought had been because he needed the cash for something. It was immediately shot down because it turned out that the director had much more, and I mean much more, money than he had originally let on. This, of course, baffled everyone around because someone with as much money as he had should have absolutely no reason to dress as terribly as he had.

Many more reasons could be discussed, but who really cares about them anyway. The highly agreed upon reason as to why the director was a stickler, was because he was shooting _the_ sexiest model that ever existed. Disgusting isn't it, but, hey, what do you expect when practically everybody worshipped the ground he walked on.

Now who is this model people loved? Why, none other than Li Syaoran. Isn't he just the charmer with his all but sexy hair that never seemed to stay in place? Strange, people loved the fact that his hair would forever be untamed unless he, himself, be tamed by a lover; compliments to some fan girl that created this weird, but popular, rumor. The fans also loved his amber eyes because they felt their hearts being melted by the flecks or red contained within those brown eyes. Yes, another rumor ignited by some other crazed fan. Most of all, though, the fans went absolutely ballistic for his lips, already set in that perfect smirk.

None could deny that this man that walked amongst them was the epitome of beauty. Kinomoto Sakura was no exception. What the public found attractive about Li Syaoran, she, too, did. It wasn't hard to guess that she was most attracted by his devilish lips. They, for some reason, called out to her. Nonetheless, it was a bonus that he, too, like Sakura, had not had his first kiss yet.

_N: Welcome, Li Syaoran. I here it's your first time in Japan. How are you taking it_

_so far?_

_LS: Japan's beautiful, no doubt about that. China will always have a place in my_

_heart, though._

_N: We don't expect any less, it is your birthplace. People have ties to their places_

_of birth._

_LS: (lol)_

_N:So…I hear you are here to shoot a few commercials and some editorials before _

_you return to China._

_LS: Yeah, I'll be here until this contract with Japan ends. That should roughly be _

_about two yeas. I'll come back to visit, of course, or, perhaps, for vacation. _

_N: You hear that, people of Japan, no need to worry. Besides your fantastic_

_modeling skills, your known beauty has pushed you even farther up the ranks. You_

_currently reside at #1, and have done so for years. Any comment?_

_LS: What can you say to that…(lol)._

_N: (lol), You don't need to reply to that. But seriously, though, how is your love _

_life?_

_LS: (lol), I don't exactly know, myself. I've never been kissed if that's what you're_

_asking._

_N: Are you serious, you've never been kissed?_

_LS: No, never. I've never experienced what it means to fall in love. I'm just waiting_

_for the right girl, I suppose._

That statement from the magazine article had doomed Kinomoto Sakura to love the ever popular enigma that was Li Syaoran. Sakura considered herself lucky that she had taken art as her major. She just loved how all the colors invoked in her this sensation that made life all the more worth it. It also helped that she would be designing, along with a few others, the set of Li Syaoran's new commercial.

"Hey, Sakura, aren't we lucky?" one of Sakura's co-workers exclaimed, quite gleefully might I add. Sakura's co-worker, Shibasaki Satoko, predictably, was another fan of Li Syaoran. Her appearance was none to great, she was average at best. What with her black hair that was always in a messy bun and her dark brown eyes that were covered by her thick framed glasses. Satoko had had this appearance for as long as Sakura had known her. Nonetheless, Sakura adored her gift for making any room she stepped into light up like a whole new day had just begun.

"Huh?" Sakura, merely, replied.

"You know, Sakura," Satoko said while she took her glasses from her face, and directed it so that it was facing the light, "it would do you some good to pay attention once in a while." At this, Satoko looked at Sakura through the corner of her eyes.

Sakura glanced at Satoko, if only for a moment, before bringing her line of vision directly opposite of where Satoko currently stood. Sakura passed for a moment as she inhaled and exhaled, "I'm sorry, I've just been thinking about some things."

"Ah, I was only joking Sakura," Satoko said as she placed her glasses back in place, and proceeded to hug Sakura. "Saakura," Satoko whined, "I was only joking."

Sakura gently pushed away Satoko before faintly glaring at her. It wasn't long until Sakura's glare softened and turned into in a playful grin. "I know, I know."

Satoko straightened her clothes thoroughly as she patted each article of clothing smooth, "seriously, though, Sakura, what has you worried senseless?"

"Ah, idiot, Satoko-san," Sakura replied as she poked at her cheeks, "I'm not worried senseless. Wherever did you get that idea?" Sakura walked over to where she pushed Satoko earlier, and flicked her nose.

Satoko rubbed her nose as a perplexed look played at her face. She, taking advantage of the situation, pulled at her imaginary neck tie, and faked a deep voice, "now don't be like that honey. We've been married for 61 years now, and you've never kept any secrets from me…..so far, anyways."

"Really now, Satoko-san, oh, do stop with your imitations. You really suck, by the way," Sakura teased at Satoko as she stuck her tongue out at her. "As to why I'm worried, if it hasn't already slipped your mind, I wonder if the background meets the director's criteria. He seems as if he has a stick up his butt, if you ask me. That should make him strict." Sakura explained.

Satoko moved from where they currently stood to the left end of the set where all the chairs were placed. "Oh, man, I love chairs, they make your legs feel relieved," Satoko said in a breathless tone as she took a seat amongst one of the chairs. After Satoko seated herself in a comfortable position she spoke to Sakura about her minor problems, "You know, Sakura, the guy doesn't seem as if he has a stick up his butt, he does have a stick up his butt. As per the design, it is beyond awesome."

"Can you, please, not say 'awesome'? I have this weird problem with the word awesome. It really irks me to no end. The use of the word 'awesome' makes the person seem as though they have run out of adjectives to properly portray what they are hoping to get across," Sakura muttered, irritated, as she sat next to Satoko.

"Chill," Satoko managed to get out while she laughed, "I do it on purpose, you know, so don't get started with the 'chill'."

Sakura sighed at the moment one of the staff, working on the commercial, approached them and ordered them, rather harshly, "Do you mind? Could you please remove your ugly faces from this vicinity of the set? The director told me to tell you that you aren't allowed here."

Sakura immediately disconnected her body from the chair as she sprang up, and quickly bowed her head, "I'm so, so sorry. We won't do it again."

The lady, on the other hand, just walked away without so much as a second glance.

Satoko brought her hands up to Sakura's back and patted her back, "what a nasty woman. She could have asked us nicely, with more respect. Besides, who is she to call _you_ ugly? I understand me, I'm not that great to look at, and she's in the same level as me, or worse. Calling you ugly was a huge insult. You're way beyond beautiful, Sakura."

"Thank you, Satoko-san, but please don't degrade yourself with the word ugly, you're beautiful, too," Sakura stated in response to Satoko's earlier statement.

"I know I'm ugly, Sakura. I'm a level 7, and you're a level 1, the same as Li Syaoran," Satoko said as she put her hands up before Sakura in a silencing type of movement, "and don't you bother telling me, otherwise. You're eyes are this brilliant shade of emerald green. I don't know how the hell they got that way."

Sakura tried to intervene, "Please no cursing, and don't talk-

Satoko, headless of Sakura, continued to narrate Sakura's beauty, "Have I ever told you how much I envy your naturally auburn hair. Have you felt your hair, honestly? It feels like silk; totally unfair. Sakura, don't mind my use of the word 'totally'. Are you dead?"

"What!?" Sakura questioned.

"You're skin is so pale, you look like a doll. Seriously, you look like a porcelain doll, and you're lips only make you look more like a doll," stated Satoko as she continued her ramble.

Sakura, this time, managed to stop Satoko's embarrassing ramble about her appearance, "Satoko-san, oh, be quiet. Seriously, it's kind of weird."

"Ah, sorry, Sakura, it's just that whenever we start talking about your appearance I kind of get carried away. Honestly, though, you really are beautiful," Satoko said as she finished her ramble.

"Hey, Sakura?" questioned Satoko after a minutes worth of silence. They relocated themselves to where the rest of the artsy people were; basically, the set designers.

"Hmm," Sakura inquired nonchalantly.

Satoko opened her purse, got out a snack, and stuffed it inside her mouth, "Li Syaoran is taking so long. If you had a choice, would you rather stay here and wait for him, or would you rather leave and do something?" Satoko finished chewing her first bite and proceeded to take another bit when she mentioned, "naturally, of course, I'd stay. I'm a die hard Li Syaoran fan. Sexiness like that doesn't come around ever so often."

"Well I," Sakura answered in an exhausted tone, "…I for one thing, am tired. No man, no matter how beautiful should make me wait against my wishes. As for answering your question, I'd leave. Oh, I'd definitely leave."

"I thought you liked Li Syaoran?" Satoko voiced, confused, "wouldn't you stay?"

Sakura paused for a moment, before smiling at Satoko, "I don't know him. Me not knowing him changed the whole situation."

Satoko and Sakura said nothing for a while as they enjoyed the silence. The silence, however, was broken by the screams emitted from the crew. There were even some that fainted. They, referring to the ones that fainted, obviously, couldn't handle the pressure.

"I wonder why they're screaming." Satoko said to no one in particular as she tried to look at what the crew was screaming at.

Sakura, on the other hand, just turned around at looked down at her trembling hands, "need you ask."

Consistent with what Sakura said, everyone that was currently at the set divided themselves to the left or right of the person that was making his way to where the commercial would be filmed. Who might the person be, it really was a no brainer. Really now, the dispersing of people to a particular side only happened when Li Syaoran was present.

Sakura separated from Satoko because Satoko moved as close as possible to gaze at the beautiful man up close while Sakura moved to the back of the crowd, still not looking up to see the model.

Truthfully, Sakura was beyond ecstatic that Li Syaoran was in the same vicinity as her. That fact alone made her beyond nervous, as well. Her body had this tingling sensation. She's always had the tingling sensation whenever Li Syaoran was concerned, but being within actual viewing distance made her whole body tingle with newfound strength.

Sakura decided that the pressure was too much for her, and snuck away to the exit of the set. She slowly but surely calmed herself down until she was able to think clearly. She wasn't sure exactly how long she stayed there mulling to herself. She glanced in the direction of where the crowd had earlier gathered only to see that the line that had once separated the crew disappeared. The crew had now gathered themselves where the filming was being done. At this distance, it was still impossible to see Li Syaoran. She was, at the very least, grateful for that.

Seeing that everyone was assembled in one particular area of the set, Sakura deemed that her disappearance would go unnoticed. Sakura inhaled a heavy amount of air and decided she would take her leave. "I think it best if I take my leave now. I have no doubt in my mind that my lack of presence will go undetected. Besides, I do doubt that the director will fire me for one absence," Sakura said to herself as insurance that what she was doing was for the betterment of her well being.

Sakura took one last look at the set before she opened the exit door and left. As she left, she muttered, "Well, at least for now, my heart can rest a bit."

Sakura, finally, escaped from the place that drove her nerves over the edge. The only problem, now, was that she had absolutely nothing to do. She looked at the many buildings the city of Tokyo housed. They really were a wonder in itself. Where Sakura had gown up, buildings were scarce. Tomoeda, her birthplace, was plagued by a rural setting. Sakura loved Tomoeda, and all it had to offer. She would have stayed, but her job relocated her to the city. There really was nothing an art degree could offer her in Tomoeda.

While Sakura was walking down the crowded streets of Tokyo she saw a quaint, little coffee shop. It may not have attracted the attention of the city dwellers, but it surely caught Sakura's attention because it reminded her of home.

Sakura entered the coffee shop and was greeted by a warm atmosphere of love. The owners, clearly old, had decorated the shop in an old manner. It, probably, was the reason their customers were limited.

"Welcome to the Firefly Café, may I please seat you," the waiter offered as he bowed before Sakura in a humble manner.

"Yes, please," Sakura answered as she smiled at the young waiter. The boy looked to be around the age of seventeen or eighteen. He was most certainly well off in the looks department. His hair had the color of a rustic orange, while his eyes were as black as the night sky. Sakura surmised that he'd have a loyal band of followers. Males like him usually did. He still had some roundness to his cheeks, but that would smooth out when he reached his twenties.

The waiter left to retrieve a menu for Sakura. While he was away, Sakura placed her tote bag next to her. When the waiter returned he offered Sakura the menu, "I'll give you a moment to decide on what you want to order. I'll be back shortly, okay?"

Sakura looked up from the menu, and smiled at the waiter, "sounds fine with me."

The waiter finally looked at Sakura's face and froze for a moment. In response to her smile, he just smiled back. "I don't want to seem like I'm trying to pick you up, but you're really beautiful." The waiter moved to turn around with his face red from blushing, but he turned around again and spoke, "I'm sorry."

The waiter walked away in a hurried motion leaving behind a blushing Sakura.

It was another minute or two before a different waiter, around his forties, came to take her order. He looked at the still flushed Sakura, "if you're wondering about the other waiter, my son, he's back there at the counter. He's too embarrassed to come over."

Sakura waved her hands across her face in a horizontal motion, "ah, no, it's not his fault." Sakura brought her hands down to play with the hem of her skirt, under the table, "besides, your son's very beautiful too. Can you please tell him not to be embarrassed? I'd feel bad."

The older man stared at Sakura for a moment before laughing, "alright, I'll tell him that. My son has good judgment, though, doesn't he? He goes after a beautiful girl." By the time the older man finished laughing; he placed his right hand on Sakura's head and patted it, while his left hand held the menu.

Sakura looked out the window, and got caught up in her thoughts. She wondered whether they had noticed she wasn't there. If Li Syaoran looked better up close and in person. He almost certainly did, she bet.

Without thinking, Sakura let out a sigh as she placed her chin on her interlaced fingers being held up by her elbows on the table. Sakura took no heed of the world around her, and by the time her coffee with a hint of hazelnut and biscotti arrived she was startled.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you. I'm also sorry about earlier," the young waiter told her, his face heating up again.

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts, "No, it's alright. It's no problem." Sakura looked around the café and saw that business was slow, just like when she first walked in, "is it alright if you sat down with me?"

The waiter looked a little surprised, but happy, nonetheless, "I'm pretty sure I can. They can't exactly fire me."

The waiter took a seat across Sakura and just smiled at her. He looked down for a moment, and then he looked back at Sakura. His face once again, lit up an amazing shed of red, "my father told me what you said earlier. Thank you."

This time, it was Sakura who turned a deep shade of red, the color the young waiter currently had plastered on his face. "I was just telling the truth. My name is Kinomoto Sakura, by the way," she said as she extended her hand out towards him.

The waiter took his right hand and met hers in an enclosed handshake. When their hands disconnected from each other, he introduced himself, "My name's Kugyo Kei; nice to meet you Kinomoto-san."

"Oh, please call me Sakura."

"Call me Kei."

"So, Kei," Sakura asked as she stirred her coffee a little before taking a sip, "what you doing working here?"

Kei stared at Sakura for a few seconds before directing his gaze at his father, "you do know that's my father, right?"

"Yeah, he introduced himself as your father earlier," Sakura responded to his question.

Kei tapped his hands against the table in a way that made him seem as if he were striking the keys of the piano. While he continued with his rhythmic beats he explained, "my grandparents opened up this café. I was actually named after the café, not that it matters, though. If you have noticed…who am I kidding, you have noticed. Anyways, the café isn't doing so well with the amount of customers it takes in. With what little money we make from profit, we can't possibly think to higher waiters. So-

Sakura, seeming to understand the details of how the café worked, concluded the statement for Kei, "so, basically, you help out here."

"Yes!" Kei exclaimed as he shot up from his seat and enclosed Sakura's hands within his, "don't forget to add that I do this for free."

Sakura ignored the position they were in and smiled at him, "yes, we mustn't forget that."

Sakura was the first to let go of the contact when she noticed that she had been at the café for much longer than she originally intended. She gathered her things to see if everything was in order before muttering a quick excuse to Kei, "I'm sorry. I really must take my leave now. Oh, I need to return home and feed my dog."

"You haven't touched your biscotti and you've hardly drank your coffee," Kei blandly stated. He saw the retreating figure of Kinomoto Sakura, and called after her, "won't you at least bring your biscotti to eat on the way. You're way too thin."

Sakura, hearing Kei call after her, turned around and smiled. She waited until Kei was close enough to her that they could speak in a normal tone, which wasn't that long a wait if you actually thought about it. "Keep it," Sakura had said.

As Sakura was at the café's door, he called once more at her, "don't be a stranger, Sakura, I don't know if my heart could take it." He, Kei, was of course joking about the heart part, but he doubted that Sakura would take it to heart.

"I won't, I promise I'll be back, so keep your heart in condition and still beating," she said as she smiled at Kei before exiting the café.

Naturally, Sakura couldn't see what was left of the café when she departed, but if she had turned around one last time, she'd have see a teenage boy around 17 or 18 smilingly widely with cheeks tinted the color of a strawberry.

That, of course, wasn't the main problem plaguing Sakura's mind. Sakura was worried about tomorrow because she knew for certain that a second skipping was not likely to occur anytime soon. "Li Syaoran," Sakura sighed as she headed home, "we don't know each other, but you've already made my life so difficult." Despite what she said, she couldn't help the content smile that was plastered on her face.

End of the first chapter

I don't know if this was made clear to you throughout the chapter, but this fic is S x S.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Note: Sakura and Tomoyo are not related. Yeah, they're not second cousins in this story.

Disclaimer: Own nothing

It was 4 a.m. in the morning, and Sakura was lying awake in her futon. Her work required her to be present at 6 a.m. in the morning. Not one of the best times for Sakura to wake up. Before Sakura moved to Tokyo and accepted this job, she had woken up around 10 in the morning. Well, that was if her brother wasn't home. Usually, the routine when her brother, Touya, was around was that she would be awake promptly at 8 in the morning because her brother had played some cruel joke on her.

"Oh, how the times have changed," Sakura whispered against her arms that were currently over her face. Sakura dreaded the morning shower that was the final process of her morning routine. Sakura made enough money to pay for her daily needs, which, basically, covered food for her and her dog, power, and very little spending money. She didn't have enough to pay for hot water, so she had to make due with icy cold water.

Sakura took one final huge intake of air while on her futon before forcing herself up and away from her futon. Her futon wasn't the most comfortable of sleeping utilities, but she had to make due.

The uncarpeted floor she walked on was onyx in color, and sparkled with the gleam from the moon shining through her bedroom window. "The f-floor is c-cold," Sakura stuttered as she treaded across the icy cold floor. "I wish I had a heater," Sakura muttered as she touched the cold metal doorknob and turned it.

As Sakura turned on the bathroom light she squinted her eyes, so that they could gradually get used to the sudden rush of light. When Sakura approached her bathtub she pushed the handle and let the water run. Even from Sakura's distance, she could feel the sudden rush of cold air the water emitted. Seeing that the water was where she wanted it, Sakura pulled the handle to stop the water flow.

Sakura closed her eyes as she discarded her sleeping clothes inside the bin used solely for her dirty clothes. Sakura lifted her right foot and stuck in the pool of cold water. Immediately as her foot touched the water, chills ran throughout her whole body, and the goose bumps started appearing. Sakura shivered before disposing all of her body into the water.

Sakura's teeth were chattering nonstop and her purplish pink nails had turned bluish purple. It really didn't help that she became cold quickly. Sakura rushed the showering process, and when she finished, she rapidly wiped herself with the towel and dried herself thoroughly.

Sakura, with her towel wrapped around her body, moved over to the sink and began brushing her teeth. As she brushed her teeth in a fluid motion she looked at her reflection in the mirror. "My eyes have bags underneath them," Sakura muttered as she fingered the area under her eye. After she finished brushing her teeth and doing whatever facial treatment she thought was necessary for her face, she concluded, "I think I'm going to wear my glasses, for a change."

Sakura walked out of the bathroom, feeling the prickling sensation the cold floor offered, and went straight to her closet. She opened the closet, taking a look at her clothes, and decided to wear her dark, navy blue skinny jeans paired with her white button up frilly blouse that ended three inches from her shoulders. Her blouse was embedded with pink flowers and tiny red dots all over. To complete her ensemble, Sakura wore a blood red cashmere sweater left unbuttoned, her black flats with a lacy bow above where her toes were covered, and her satin black tote bag decorated with animated pandas holding umbrellas over their heads while sitting on a gigantic ball.

Sakura closed her closet remembering her life in Tomoeda, before she came to Tokyo. She truly missed the people there, her father most of all. Sakura could never be able to express her gratitude that she held for her father who raised her and her brother, Touya, in a loving environment. He taught Sakura right from wrong, and to stick to the morals she set for herself no matter how difficult the situation got.

"I know father is currently in England working with this English professor before they excavate a site in Egypt, but I wonder how Tomoyo and Touya are faring," Sakura wondered as she gave Kero, her dog, his breakfast. Tomoyo, her best friend, had gotten married to her brother, Touya, one week before her departure to Tokyo. Tomoyo was 21 while Touya was 29, but no one minded the 8 year age difference because they were helplessly in love. Besides, her mother and father had a larger age gap.

When Sakura finished feeding Kero, Sakura grabbed her white beanie, topped with a white fuzzy ball that sparkled with decorative beads at its summit, and placed it over her head. Feeling that she was ready, Sakura exited her apartment. While Sakura closed her door to her apartment she muttered, "stupid Touya."

As Sakura was walking to work, the February breeze kept blowing her waist length auburn hair against her face. Sakura lazily gathered her hands to remove the strands of hair that had plastered themselves across her face. Sakura sighed as she remembered how she'd sit on the swings of Penguin Park, and close her eyes when the wind blew by, ruffling all of her clothes in the process. Sakura stood still and closed her eyes as she whispered, "I miss Tomoeda."

After thirty minutes of walking, Sakura reached her work promptly at 5: 45, fifteen minutes left to spare before her employment began. When Sakura entered the building, she saw Satoko already waiting by the place where employees clock in. Sakura quietly approached Satoko, and tapped her shoulder.

"Ah, Sakura," Satoko said as she rapidly whipped around, "you're wearing glasses." She, by then, had already dragged Sakura and herself far from the awaiting crowd.

Sakura replied, "Yes, very much so." Sakura, then, proceeded to move back to the awaiting crowd to clock in when Satoko pulled her back to her side.

"I already clocked you in," Satoko mentioned as she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone.

"Are you allowed to do that?"Sakura questioned.

"Who cares," Satoko carelessly replied as she began texting with her cell phone. She glanced over in Sakura's direction, and told her, "I'm just texting my cousin that I'll be home late tonight. I forgot to mention it to her yesterday."

Sakura's focus moved from the crowd of employees towards Satoko's cell phone. She muttered in a confused tone, "I don't mind, but why are you going home late? Are you planning, ahead of schedule, to work overtime?"

Satoko merely laughed as she stuffed her cell phone back into her purse, "that's funny Sakura, I'm going to the club," she managed to say in between fits of laughter.

At this point in time, Sakura looked extremely baffled. "Club," she asked, "I didn't know you were part of the whole club scene, or anything involving having a night life, for that matter?"

Satoko gave Sakura a weird look, "don't you remember?"

"Remember," Sakura thought out loud, "remember what?"

"Oh, I know!" Satoko exclaimed as she brought her right hand, balled into her fist, down onto her left hand, which lay flatly open, "you must have been in such a daze after seeing Li Syaoran up close that you forgot."

Sakura, in turn, just laughed uneasily, "yes, that must have been it." Sakura reached for her white beanie and placed it within her black tote bag. "Would you mind refreshing my memory?" Sakura asked politely.

"Oh, I don't mind," Satoko responded as she smiled at Sakura. Satoko, to Sakura's surprise, brought both of her hands upward to a center, and then separated them in a motion opposite of the other. "It all started when the director yelled at the staff members to be quiet, and to stop fussing over Li Syaoran because we were distracting," Satoko began, "so everyone calmed themselves down, I think. It was all quiet; a pin drop could even be heard. Well, not really, I just made that part up. Oh, but it was quiet, as compared to before. Anyways-

"Would you mind getting straight to the part about the club?" Sakura asked as she interrupted Satoko.

Satoko nodded her head in accordance with Sakura's request, and agreed, "yes, I do believe that you are right." "So where do I begin," Satoko pondered aloud to herself while stroking her imaginary beard, "…ah, I know!" Satoko explained to Sakura in an excited tone, "we really didn't accomplish anything that day because the female model posing with Li Syaoran decided she wanted the background's design to be purple instead yellow. The director was going to ignore her suggestion, but she latched her slutty self onto Li Syaoran's arm, and said an overtly sickly sweet voice about how purple would match the commercial better. Li Syaoran brushed her off, of course, but agreed, nonetheless, that purple would suit the commercial better. And so it goes, purple is the new color."

Satoko was about to continue her explanation when Sakura voiced her thought, "Wow-

"I know!"Satoko cried out in an annoyed voice paired with a disbelieving face, "that ugly slut fastened herself onto the sexiest man ever! It was soo disgusting! My mouth dropped in horror, and so did everyone else's, mind you."

Sakura was sort of lost with Satoko's sudden outburst, but eventually caught on. "W-what?" she replied, "I wasn't talking about that part. I said wow because we'd have to do a tremendous amount of work with the new designs and what not." Although, the bit about Li Syaoran and the model was depressing, she'd never admit it to Satoko that she agreed. Except for the whole slut part, she believed no one should be called such a degrading word.

"Uhh," Satoko sighed as she lightly pounded her forehead with her fists, "now that you mention it, more work!" Satoko sat Indian style on the floor and muttered exasperated, "I should get on with the explanation."

"Yes, I do believe you should," Sakura agreed as she, too, sat Indian style across Satoko.

Satoko shrugged and said, "Hmm, I guess. At any rate, the director called break because he needed to rethink how the whole design should look. We were left to wander around and stare at Li Syaoran constantly; mostly staring, might I add. After about an hour or so, Li Syaoran left our fixed gazes and entered the director's private room. I think it was about thirty minutes before they both emerged from the room. We were curious, I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say this, as to what would happen next. Li Syaoran sat down and the director announced that we'll start working tomorrow, which is today, and went home. Besides seeing Li Syaoran, it pretty much was a waste."

"How does the club fit into all of this?"Sakura asked bewildered. It was such a long story, and she still had not received her answer.

Satoko just grinned widely. "Here's the best part," she whispered into Sakura's ear, "Li Syaoran stood up and spoke in his sexy, deep and sultry, husky voice, he said that after work tomorrow, which fortunately is today, he would treat us to the best premiere club in Tokyo! Exclusively!" By then, Satoko had moved from whispering in Satoko's ear to jumping giddily beside her. When Satoko calmed herself down, she sat down across Sakura.

"You know," she said, still breathless from her jumping only moments before, "I'm not the club scene type of person, but if Li Syaoran is going to be there, then by all means, I'm going." Satoko asked after her breathing had returned to normal, "so are you going as well?"

Sakura turned away from Satoko, and spoke in a quite tone, "maybe." Sakura really wasn't planning to go, but she didn't want to start a new topic for Satoko to bother her about. Sakura never drank or smoked, so the option of going to a club anytime in the near future sounded beyond hopeful. Her father told her it was wrong to commit such acts, so Sakura never dared to defy it. Sakura really adored her father's words. Her brother and friends also emphasized how things could spin out of control at clubs, her brother more so than others.

"Oh, okay," she muttered as she nodded her hand in a motion reminiscent of a bobble head.

Sakura and Satoko removed themselves from the floor, and began dusting off any signs of dirt that attached itself onto their clothing.

"I need a breath of fresh air," Sakura said to Satoko as she began walking towards the back door, "I'll be back in a bit, or possibly longer. Sakura glanced back to see what Satoko's reply would be. She couldn't, exactly, make it out as clearly anymore because she was too far, but she surmised her reply to be something along the lines of: sure, okay, or yeah, whatever.

When Sakura reached the outside, she took a seat at the base of a tree. She took a sniff with her eyes closed, and whispered to herself, "the city air just doesn't compare to the country air."

For a moment, all was silent, and the only sound that reached Sakura's ears was the calm whirls of the wind. Sakura was shocked out of her serene reverie when a deep and husky voice, that sent her whole body into waves of uncontrollable shaking, spoke up, "I agree."

Sakura didn't budge, or anything. No, Sakura was too startled to do a thing besides sit at the base of a tree. She hoped, with all her might that the sexy and alluring voice, at least to Sakura's now red ears, that the person would just walk away, far from her.

Sakura rapidly closed her eyes, and lightly banged her head with her fists as she muttered, "how could I think of that." Sakura, of course, was referring to the incident where she thought the stranger's voice was sexy.

All the while Sakura battled within her head, the stranger, located opposite of Sakura leaning against the trunk of a tree, laughed, rather, quietly as a smile slowly graced his lips.

"Does my voice give you pleasure?" the stranger asked her, as if to further taunt Sakura. By now, the smile that had earlier appeared on his face was now replaced by a playful grin.

Sakura finally snapped put of her stupor, and quietly, as possible, got up. She took slow steps as she tried to reach the back door, so she could enter the building. Sakura, to her dismay, stopped walking when the stranger spoke to her again, in a nonchalant type of tone, "if you must know, I really don't mind or care if you decide to leave, but if I am correct, which I most likely am, it's considered rude to leave when a person is speaking to you; unless you ask for permission to leave, of course."

Sakura turned herself around so that she was now facing the direction of the tree, her standpoint somewhere along the middle of the tree and the back door. "I'm sorry," she replied in a somber voice as she bowed, "I honestly didn't mean to offend you, but my father told me never to talk to strangers."

"Ah," the stranger spoke, "it's the father's orders. I haven't met a girl like you in a very long time, a very long time, indeed."

"I'm sorry," Sakura said.

"There's no need for you to be sorry. I'm merely thinking aloud, is all," the stranger told her.

"Oh," was all Sakura managed to get out.

"It's okay," he offered as comfort.

Sakura walked back towards the base of the tree, and sat down as she closed her eyes in the process.

After about a minute or so of silence, the stranger told Sakura, "I like your voice, if it means anything. It's very quaint."

The stranger's words made Sakura's face, neck, and ears turn a brilliant shade of red. That, however, was only the effect of Sakura's upper body. The rest of her body had been reduced to its shaking, once again. The compliment uttered from the stranger's attractive voice sent Sakura's body over the edge.

"Th-thank you," Sakura managed to stutter out. She took a deep breath of the city air before she complimented him back, "your voice is pleasant, as well."

"Pleasant?" the stranger asked as if it was foreign to his lips, "it's _just_ pleasant?"

Sakura thought it wise to tell the stranger his voice was pleasant instead of telling the truth. Telling him the truth would only embarrass her, so she opted for the most suitable reply.

Sakura was about to tell the man that she had to return to her work when a pair of hands placed themselves over Sakura's eyes and mouth. The man's left hand covered both of Sakura's eyes while his right hand prevented her from doing anything that required the use of her mouth.

"Relax," he whispered into her left ear, "I'm not going to cause you any harm, physical or mental." What the stranger didn't realize, sadly enough, was that there was absolutely nothing that Sakura could possibly do. All that had registered in Sakura's mind was that a very sexy, deep and sultry voice whispered into her ears, with his lips almost touching the lobe of her left ear.

It wasn't that hard to guess what Sakura did next. She fainted, naturally, with her cheeks and ears glowing in a scarlet shade. The man just gazed at the girl that resembled a china doll with his amber eyes a glow. "I wonder if you'll wake up coughing if I squeeze and hold your nose for a while, I've always wanted to do it to someone," he whispered long after she had lost consciousness. He grinned and concluded, "that would be to mean, never mind."

It was around ten minutes later that Sakura began to stir into consciousness. When Sakura, eventually, regained consciousness, she felt the weight of hands over her eyes.

"I moved you somewhere else because I heard some people coming," he told her.

Sakura's face began to heat up again, but asked, nonetheless, "are we still within the building's parameter?"

"Yes."

Sakura's body tensed as she finally realized that her body was within the arms of the stranger; her head lying against his right shoulder. To Sakura's surprise, she felt warm all over, and not scared despite the fact that she knew nothing of the man, besides the obvious detail that he made her feel like jell-o inside.

"Can I ask you a question," he asked her as his hot breath tickled the area above her ear.

"I don't mind," she answered, breathless.

"Is my voice _only just_ pleasant?" he asked as a smirk formed on his lips, before lightly kissing the top of Sakura's ear.

Sakura's mind, in response, was lost in sensual bliss. All Sakura could comprehend was that this feeling was beyond extraoredinary, so she thoughtlessly blurted out in a soft voice, "it's anything but."

"I thought so," he whispered into her ear.

When Sakura regained control of her senses, she abruptly jumped up and bowed. She began apologizing to the man, "I'm so sorry. I never should have said that." Still not looking at the man, she continued in her bowed form, "I mean, I I- I I'm sorry. I'm terribly sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, I'm already used to it," he said as he laughed and smiled at the girl's antics. "Although, this is the first time someone's actually apologized for it, and to that degree, no less."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he said as he walked over to where she stood bowed, her eyes closed.

He patted her head as Sakura explained, "I just don't feel right unless I apologize. I don't naturally act that way around anyone. It's just that your voice makes my whole body feel warm. I'm so sorry."

"Well," he began, "I do have that affect on people." The man lifted Sakura up so she was now face to face with him. "Open your eyes," he told Sakura.

Sakura opened her eyes, and just stared, stunned, at the person before her. The person was, of course, Li Syaoran. Sakura was so horrified at what she had done that tears slowly slipped from her eyes and cascaded onto the grass. "I'm so sorry," she whispered before she fled into the building.

She left the confused Li Syaoran behind as he just stared at her while she fled. "Why'd she cry," he wondered aloud.

When Sakura entered the building, she went over to Satoko. Her appearance surprised Satoko that she questioned, "what's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing," Sakura replied in between hiccups, her soft voice barely audible, "I thought I heard a ghost, and I started to cry."

"Oh, Sakura," Sakura said depressed as she hugged Sakura to comfort her, "you're the only adult I know that's still scared of ghosts. Your brother really spooked you well. You're still scared till this day."

Sakura gave a tiny laugh, but it was then followed by more hiccups and tears. "I'm going to take my break now, and get some breakfast. I'll be back," she tried to stop her crying.

Satoko merely patted her head, and said, understanding Sakura's current predicament, "okay, be safe."

"Se you later," Sakura said as she exited the studio.

End of chapter two

Sorry for the long update, I have been lazy. I'll try to get in chapter three sooner. I'll _try_, but if I get lazy again, expect the same wait period before chapter three is up.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hmm, I guess I wasn't that lazy. Chapter 4 should take a while because I have two research papers to do, and they're both ten pages long. 1.5 and double spacing. Curse AP classes.

Disclaimer: Own nothing

The sixty degree temperature from the outside had dropped to a comfortable seventy degree temperature once Sakura entered Firefly Café. Her tears, that she had earlier cried, had all but dried on her face. Her red blush had been reduced to a pink flush. Her hiccups that she produced earlier were replaced by tired breaths of heavy breathing.

It was no more than a minute when a waiter walked up to Sakura, his uniform neatly pressed in all the right places. He bowed in a manner that resembled a ninety degree angle before he asked Sakura, "do you need help, miss?"

Sakura looked the waiter in the eye blankly before answering after a considerable amount of time had passed, "yes, I think I would like to seated far away from the windows." Sakura gave the waiter a small smile before she brought her hands together behind her back to symbolize her embarrassment for her prolonged answer.

The waiter, who appeared to be in his fifties, questioned Sakura, "would that be a table for one, or possibly more?"

"Oh, just one," Sakura replied in a subtle manner.

"Follow me, miss," the waiter told Sakura. As Sakura was walking behind the waiter, she kept her eye's focus on the man's back. It still seemed pretty well sculpted for a man in his fifties. Sakura couldn't discern whether or not the body had no extra fats, which presented themselves in a flab, or if the man's uniform covered all that was unsightly.

"What a handy uniform," Sakura thought out loud.

Sakura continued to walk in the same direction without so much as a glance anywhere else; the result, presumably, had Sakura walking into and bumping another object. What exactly it was that Sakura had bumped into, she could not distinguish.

After Sakura disconnected herself from whatever it was she bumped into, she rubbed her eyes to bring them back into focus before she aligned her eye glasses with the bridge of her nose. "So-so-sorry," Sakura stuttered out.

Not really expecting a reply, Sakura listened to whoever it was that she had bumped into, "it is alright, miss."

Sakura, finally, looked up at the person she had bumped only to realize that it was the waiter who was guiding her to her table. "Obviously," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"Here is you seat, miss," the waiter told Sakura as he extended his left in a sweeping motion, so that Sakura knew where exactly the table was.

"Thank you very much," Sakura thanked the man as she smiled sheepishly at him.

He handed Sakura the menu. As he turned to walk away, he said, "I'll be back momentarily."

"Make that five minutes, please," Sakura requested as her eyes began to scan the items that were listed on the menu.

"Will do," the waiter, so eloquently, replied as he nodded his head once.

Sakura removed her gaze from the menu to watch as the waiter walked away. Sakura narrated to herself, wistfully, "and with that, the waiter walked away, his movements so stealthy, it resembled a master con artist as he enacted his master plan."

"Biscotti," Sakura read quietly to herself, "cinnamon roll……and last but not least, turnovers."

Sakura was so deep in thought she didn't notice a figure approaching her. The figure, with a normal stature, sat down across Sakura. He waited, what would amount to another three minutes, before he spoke up, "mulling over the choices, are we?"

Sakura, startled, dropped the menu that she was looking at, and stared at the person sitting across her. With her shaking hands, Sakura asked nervously, "aren't you Kei's father?"

"You have good memory," he complimented her as small laughs were emitted from his mouth.

"It's not so great," she refuted, "besides, I just met you the other day."

The man just laughed heartily as he used both his right and left hand to pat his belly, "right you are, but you see, there are many cases where a person doesn't remember meeting someone, regardless of the fact that they had met only hours before."

Sakura began to ponder on this thought before she finally decided to say, her lips developing into a pout, "yes, I suppose cases such as those happen all the time, but I presume it most likely to be the case that the person forgotten hasn't really made much of an impression, last they met."

"Well, thank you. I always seem to have that effect on people," the man laughed aloud that it brought some unwanted stares to their table.

"I can clearly see why, I mean, who wouldn't in the presence of one as charming as yourself," Sakura said as a wide and joyful smile engulfed Sakura's face, wiping away the sadness that had, earlier, been placed there.

"You flatter me, miss," he told her laughing.

At this, Sakura's smile broke down and was replaced by tiny fits of laughter. Sakura faced flushed a deeper color than it was originally.

The current owner of the store, rose from his seat, and patted Sakura on the head happily. "You see," he said smiling, "you're happy again."

"Oh," Sakura said confused, "I don't remember being sad when I came in here."

"I highly doubt that."

"I know I wasn't particularly pleased with myself, but I don't think that I was sad enough that it became evident," Sakura explained.

"When a person is sad, the atmosphere will reflect it," the owner told her wisely.

"Well, I suppose that is true," Sakura said, her mood getting lighter, "but at the very least, I'm happy now, and that, my dear sir, is what counts."

"Touché, my dear, touché," the owner said in between fits of his howling laughter.

"By the way, I am Kinomoto Sakura."

"Kugyo Sousuke, at your service, Kinomoto-san."

"Pleasure," Sakura responded smiling.

"Do you know what you want to order?" Kugyo asked. (an: I'm going to refer to the owner as Kugyo, his last name, and not Sousuke, his first name.)

"One strawberry shortcake and a bottle of water, please," Sakura told Kugyo politely.

"Coming right up," he said as he stood up and proceeded to collect the menu. "I'll be right back," he added as he began to walk away.

It wasn't that long before Kugyo came back, a strawberry shortcake slice in his left hand, and a bottle of water in his right. He placed the items directly in front of Sakura as he sat down again, across Sakura.

Sakura took a bite out of her strawberry shortcake slice, and then asked, after she swallowed it "would you mind telling me what day it is today? I can't, for the life of me, keep track of the days."

"Today is Friday," he began, "the 9th of Friday."

"Oh," Sakura said, as if she just found out some form of new information, "that would mean that Kei is, currently, at school."

"Yes, indeed," the father agreed. He signaled for one of the employees to bring him a cup of coffee, and when they, hurriedly, did, he took a huge gulp of the steaming and smoldering hot cup of coffee.

Sakura looked at the owner as he gulped down another batch of the delicious coffee, at least, that was what Sakura was able to make out from the aroma that flew her way. "That doesn't burn your tongue?" she questioned as curiosity got the best of her.

"I'm used to it," he told her, very gallantly, but all Sakura could see was the red shade his tongue had turned. "Besides," he continued, "when something tastes great, one can't help but to devour it as quickly as possible."

"Yes, I suppose so," Sakura agreed hesitantly. Sakura was the type to eat on a whim, or when it was convenient for her, which wasn't that much, mind you.

"So," Kugyo started as his gaze was focused so intently on Sakura that it not stray from its intended course, "what made you feel so down this morning; pretty early in the morning to be depressed, if you ask me."

"Just some problems at work," Sakura replied uneasily.

"Really now," he said aloud as if he lived without a care in the world.

"Yes," Sakura said, rather, quietly.

"No problems with your co-workers?" he asked carelessly.

"None, why?" she responded, feeling very conscious of her surroundings.

"Friends?"

"Never"

"Or possibly, problems with males?" he asked having an inkling of what the situation was about.

"N-no," Sakura stuttered in a squeaky tone.

Kugyo looked at Sakura, one of his eyebrows raised. He stated, off handedly, in a fake sigh, "oh, that's a relief." He brought his right hand up, as if to clutch at his broken heart, "that is such a huge relief. I don't know what I would have done if my youngest son was suddenly heartbroken."

He looked at Sakura with a sneaky behavior before he moved his right hand from his heart, so that it now lay perched on top of his forehead. He, naturally, pretended to be fainting. "A heart broken third year high school student, heartbroken! Heartbroken! Of all things, it's disastrous! Immensely disastrous!"

Sakura really had no idea what to do in a situation such as this one, so it should come as no surprise that Sakura was relieved when someone stopped the owner's very fake anguish over his son's would be broken heart.

Now, what was it, exactly, that shut the old man up. It was none other than a woman that appeared to be in her late twenties, with dark brown hair, and a pair of glossy black eyes. She, of course, hit the owner over the head with a moderately hard slap.

"Ouch," the owner said rubbing the spot where his head was hit, "Takae, you didn't have to hit me, at least not that hard, anyways."

"Maybe if you'd stop harassing people with your weird acts, I wouldn't have to hit you," she replied pissed at the owner.

Sakura just looked at the two arguing, baffled at their behavior.

The woman stopped arguing with the owner and looked over at Sakura. "Oh," she apologized, embarrassed at the way she acted only moments before, "I'm Kugyo Takae. I'm this old fart's eldest child and only daughter."

Sakura stood up from her seat, and bowed. When she was standing face to face with the other two people surrounding the table she replied, in turn, "Ah! I'm Kinomoto Sakura. Pleased to meet you."

When Sakura was going to sit down, her right leg hit the table, and she completely lost balance of herself. Sakura tumbled towards the ground, and landed with a small thud. The impact itself wasn't one that required a visit to the doctor, or anything, but Sakura did end up with a bruise on her left wrist.

"Oh, are you okay?" both of the Kugyos questioned Sakura as they rushed over to where she fell.

They helped Sakura up, and she began dusting off imaginary dirt. She reassured them, "I'm perfectly fine. No need to worry about me."

As Sakura rolled up her left sleeve to get a better look at the bruise that now began to turn its normal purple hue. "Oh dear," Sakura said as she saw her watch.

"What's wrong?" the owner questioned her.

"It's almost 9o'clock, I should be heading back to work now," she said as she began gathering her things. She stuffed her water bottle in her tote bag, and looked at her strawberry shortcake that she only took three tiny bites of.

The owner followed Sakura's gaze and said, "I can get that wrapped up if you want?"

"Yes, please."

The owner took the slice of strawberry shortcake, and left to wrap it up. While he was getting the cake wrapped up, Takae offered Sakura, "I can drop you off at your work, if you want."

"I wouldn't want to intrude. Besides, my work isn't far from here," Sakura refused as politely as possible.

"You wouldn't be intruding because I offered. Please, I insist," she begged, rather, persistent.

"Oh, in that case, thank you very much," Sakura said smiling happily, "it should get me there faster."

The owner came back with Sakura's strawberry shortcake; all wrapped up nicely, and handed it to Sakura. Sakura handed the owner a five dollar bill, and said, "keep the change."

With that, Sakura exited the Firefly Café, but before that, she mentioned to the owner, "Tell Kei I said hi."

"Will do," the owner replied happily.

Sakura entered Takae's car but decided to sit at the back seat instead of the front seat. Takae looked at Sakura through her rear view mirror and asked her, "you sure you don't want to sit in the front?"

"I'm not used to it, I usually sat at the back when I rode with my father and brother. Thank you for offering, though," Sakura replied answering Takae's question.

Takae shifted the car's gear, so that they were now on the road. "So… what was my father pestering you about when I first came in?" Takae asked partly so she could get some conversation going between the both of them, and partly because she was nosy.

"He wasn't pestering me," Sakura replied furrowing her eyebrows, "he was merely concerned because I was feeling down when I first entered the café."

"Oh," Takae wondered but decided to quench what was a cover up for her nosy interrogation, and so decided to continue, "what made you sad? You can tell me, I'd, probably, understand because I'm a girl."

"Being a girl doesn't guarantee an understanding when girls have problems," Sakura said without really thinking about it.

"I suppose so, but I'm twenty-eight, and have probably experienced what you're going through," Takae explained to Sakura.

Sakura nodded her head in agreement as she voiced, "I guess, that does make sense."

"Yeah, that's probably why I said it."

"I made a fool of myself in front of the person I like," Sakura said out of nowhere.

"We all do that, at least, once in our lives," Takae said as a counter to Sakura's earlier statement, "I've done it a lot of times."

"I know for a fact that he doesn't like me."

"Welcome to the club."

"There's a club?" Sakura questioned perplexed, "I didn't realize there was actually one of those things in existence. Tokyo is a very strange place."

"Figuratively speaking, of course," Takae said with an eyebrow raised, but agreed nonetheless, "but yes, Tokyo is a very strange place."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Takae alleged while nodding her head.

"Should I avoid him?" Sakura inquired not knowing what to do about the situation.

"Do you work together?"

"Technically speaking, yes"

"Then, no; confront him about it," Takae advised Sakura.

"Oh, we're here. Just drop me off at the sidewalk," Sakura said as she pointed in the direction for Takae to drop her off at.

When Takae brought the car to a stop in front the sidewalk that was just a few steps away from the warehouse where the shooting was taking place, Sakura got off. She closed the door, and as Takae rolled down the window, she thanked her, "thank you for the ride, I really appreciate it. And thank you for the advice, as well."

"It was nothing," Takae responded, "oh! And Sakura, I never uttered the number twenty-eight."

"I understand," Sakura said as she waved goodbye to Takae, a smile shinning brightly on her face.

As Sakura walked towards the entrance of the door, her heart began beating uncontrollably. "Calm down, calm down," she tried to reassure herself. When Sakura, finally, approached the door, she put her shaking hand on the handle of the door, and opened it.

Inside the warehouse, Sakura was greeted by workers busily trying to do complete their task at hand. "Were we finally given orders?" Sakura wondered aloud.

As Sakura was walking to the room where they could put all of their belongings in a locker, she was immediately pounced on by Satoko. "Sakura," she wailed loudly, "you were gone for fifty five minutes. That's five minutes away from an hour!"

"I'm sorry," Sakura apologized, red in the face.

"I'm not mad, because you came back all happy in the face!" Satoko exclaimed.

"You seem too happy, for some reason," Sakura told Satoko, suspicious of her odd behavior.

"Li-san provided everyone with these really expensive chocolates, and they have a little bit of alcohol in them," Asato Kahoko, another co-worker of both Sakura's and Satoko's in the art department.

"Oh, good morning Kahoko-san," Sakura said as she directed in smile in Kahoko's direction while removing Satoko from her.

"Good morning Sakura," Kahoko replied, in turn. "There's a chocolate for each of the employees," she continued, "you can get yours now, if you want."

"No, thank you, I believe I'll take a pass on this generous gift," Sakura said shaking her head in distaste.

"Suit yourself," Kahoko said taking Satoko away with her. She did tell Sakura, though, before she went away, "our assignments are listed on the board. Satoko and I are part of painting the back ground purple. We have the simple job. I'll be seeing you then."

Sakura just looked at them as they walked away, but then proceeded to depositing her belongings inside one of the lockers. When Sakura finished securing her belongings in the locker, she began walking towards the board where their assignments were posted.

Sakura looked at her name, and it read:

**Kinomoto Sakura: ** _Detailed designs on the background._

_Draw designs on paper, and then submit it to the director who will then approve the design._

_When design is approved, transfer design onto the background._

"I wonder who I'm working with," pondered Sakura.

Sakura began looking for the room that said initial design on it. It took her one minute, at the most, to find the room. Coincidentally, it happened to be the farthest room from where everybody else was gathered.

Sakura opened the door, and found three other people inside. Their names, in no particular order: Shiraishi Tsuzuki, Kurasaki Amane, and Takeuchi Yoko. Two, of which, happened to be girls. The other, Shiraishi Tsuzuki, was a male.

"Good morning," Sakura greeted them all.

"Good morning Kinomoto-san," all three greeted Sakura, in unison.

"Please call me Sakura," Sakura said, "Kinomoto-san makes it feel as if we're not friends."

"Understood, I got it, Sakura," Yoko said as she smiled at Sakura. She patted the seat next to herself which, most likely, meant that Sakura was to sit next to her.

"Anyways," began Tsuzuki, "now that Sakura is here, we should all begin." Tsuzuki looked at Sakura, "did I forget to mention that they also changed the theme."

"What?" Sakura questioned, bewildered. Sakura shook her head and muttered, "the last theme was great, why'd they change it?"

"Li Syaoran wanted to change it," Tsuzuki said, his temperature rising, "he's so stupid. Doesn't know the amount of work it takes to redo the whole thing."

That comment, naturally, garnered glares from the two females inside the room. Amane, the one sitting beside Tsuzuki hit his side before defending Li Syaoran, "it's just a little work, you weakling."

"Hey!" Tsuzuki yelled back at Amane.

"What's the new theme?" Sakura questioned, pulling at Tsuzuki's sleeve.

"Something dealing with musical fairies," Tsuzuki replied pissed at they lame theme.

"He didn't like our _Little Red Riding Hood_ theme?" Sakura voiced disappointed.

Yoko and Amane both sighed, "apparently not."

"That's sad," Sakura whispered.

"Well, anyways," Amane exclaimed, excited, "we should get down to work right away! There's a party at a club tonight!"

At this, Yoko and Amane both high-fived each other and screamed, "yes!"

Tsuzuki rolled his eyes, and lamely muttered, "your precious Li Syaoran is going to be there."

Yoko and Amane both high-fived each other and screamed, "yes!"

At around 5 o'clock, everyone began heading home, so they could prepare themselves for the exclusive party at the club. It was no different for the group that Sakura was in because Amane and Yoko were putting the designs away.

"I'll put them away, all three of you can go home," Sakura said as she kept on working.

"Do you plan on working overtime?" Tsuzuki asked Sakura.

"Yeah"

"Oh, but Sakura, the club thing is tonight," Yoko told Sakura.

"I'm not going, I'm not into that kind of thing," Sakura said, not looking up from her work.

"Suit yourself," Amane said, "but don't stay here to late, okay?"

"Okay," said whispered as the three departed.

An hour and a half had passed, and still, Sakura continued to work. Sakura was so deep in her work that she didn't notice someone slip in. Another ten minutes had passed, and Sakura was still not alerted to the man's presence.

Fed up with being ignored, the man spoke up, "It's almost 7 o'clock."

Sakura was alarmed by the man's voice that the papers accidentally flew from her hands. Sakura proceeded to pick up the designs when she looked up at the person that was helping her. "You're-

"Yeah"

"Why?" she questioned as she had all the designs back in her hands.

"I don't know, the club thing starts at 7, but I never get to an event on time. It's in my character," he told her.

"It's not a very admirable trait," Sakura blurted, but covered her mouth with her hands after realizing what she had just let out.

"Why'd you run away this morning?" The amber eyed model asked in his sexy deep tone.

"I like you," Sakura confessed, her heart beating beyond her control, and her hands shaking beyond what would be considered normal. To sum it up, Sakura's nerves were acting up, over time.

"I'm sorry, I don't like you," he told her with no emotion in his husky voice.

"I know," Sakura responded in her quiet and quaint voice laced with sadness, "and I didn't expect you to." She bowed, and then said, "I'm Kinomoto Sakura, by the way. You can just call me Sakura."

"I think I prefer Kinomoto-san. I never refer to people with their first names, it's too personal for me," he told Sakura as he sat down in the chair next to her.

"I understand"

"What are you doing?"

"The new design," Sakura replied breathless. Even though he tuned her down, his voice still did wonders for her body.

"Oh, I changed that didn't I?" he said nonchalantly as he looked through the new designs, "these are amazing?"

"It doesn't matter," casually, but nervously replied.

"Are you coming tonight?"

"I see no reason to," she said as she started again to work on the designs.

"Are you seriously going to continue that?" he asked amazed.

"I see no reason not to," she replied her eyes never moving from what she was doing. It was the only way that Sakura could keep herself under control.

"I think I should go now," Li Syaoran said, but then added, "won't you go home?"

All that was met with Li Syaoran's ear was nothing but silence. As he walked to the door, and started turning the knob, Sakura spoke up, "H-Hey Li-s-san."

"Yes, Kinomoto-san," he asked as he presented her with a dazzling smile.

Sakura took a large intake of air before she gathered up her courage, and requested, "can I still li-like you?"

"Nothing good will come of it," he told her with a blank stare.

"I want to like you for as long as possible. If it turns out that my love is fruitless because I cannot make you love me I will tell you myself that I forfeit. If I lose hope, then I will tell you that I forfeit. Is that alright?"

"I don't mind," he said, "but I should warn you, it will be hopeless. I know for a fact that when I fall in love, it will be at first sight, and frankly, Kinomoto-san, I have seen you, yet I do not love you."

"Giving up without even trying, is worse than not trying at all," Sakura sadly replied.

"Well, alright then," he whispered as he walked up to Sakura, and pulled out a circular chocolate, "I gave everyone one of these, this is your piece."

"It has alcohol in it, I don't want it," Sakura managed to say as she tried to keep her composure.

"It's delicious and expensive, might I add," he whispered in her ear.

"It's dirty, I don't want it," Sakura whispered back, "I hate dirty things."

"Don't cry, Kinomoto-san," Li Syaoran whispered into her ear one last time before disappearing.

End of chapter 3

I do happen to realize that the summary of this story doesn't really tell the outline of this story, so I thought I'd give you people a little hint. There's a line somewhere in the ending of this chapter that plays a vital role in why Sakura's smile wanes, and then eventually vanishes.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura?" asked Tsuzuki , his breathing haggard, as he lightly tapped Sakura on her left shoulder. He looked as if he had just, recently, finished running a marathon before appearing for work.

"Are you okay?" Sakura questioned, concerned.

"I'm fine," he responded in a tired manner.

"Oh, well, if you say so," Sakura said unsurely, "anyways, what do you need me for?"

"No, I was just wondering if you're still going to go to work, or are you going to look for a new one, already?" Tsuzuki asked Sakura.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, and gave a small pout as she pondered. "I believe," Sakura began, "that I shall venture this crowded city, called Tokyo, and look for a new job. As much as I would like to watch the models do their commercial, I really don't, by the way, I need a job. The bills aren't going to pay themselves."

"Oh, I was just wondering," Tsuzuki began, hesitant whether or not he should continue, "……well, I know the other two are staying to watch the commercial being filmed, even though their job is over, and they're not being paid anymore."

"Yeah," Sakura added, "but I have neither the convenience nor the luxury to do such a thing."

"Same as I, but I wanted to know where you planned to look for a job at?" Tsuzuki inquired.

"Why?" Sakura wondered as if it was the most natural question in the world.

"Nothing, really," Tsuzuki said, "it's just that I have a job offer to paint a set for a horror movie. I wanted to know if you'd like to work with me."

Sakura pretended to ponder on her answer, but stated, needless to say, "I think I might have to pass this one up."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that," Tsuzuki said, not the least bit surprised.

"Try asking Satoko-san," Sakura suggested.

"Oh, she's not going to stay and watch like the rest of the girls?" Tsuzuki asked, somewhat surprised.

"Nope!" Sakura exclaimed happily, "ever since the club outing Li-san hosted three weeks ago, Satoko-san's been, how would you say this, Li Syaoran free. She hasn't been fawning over Li-san since then because she found herself a boyfriend at the club. Lucky, isn't she?"

"Yes, very."

"Besides, Satoko-san is a fan of horror movies."

Tsuzuki proceeded to hug Sakura a he thanked her, "Thanks, Sakura. I didn't want to work with someone I didn't know."

Sakura smiled widely at him as he backed away from the hug, "You're welcome." By the time Tsuzuki was far enough from Sakura, she whispered confused, "I didn't really do anything, though."

Tsuzuki was, sadly enough, forgotten by Sakura in no time. Sakura's mind, one would see, was, currently, occupied by her check. Since today marked the last day at her job, she needed to retrieve her check.

There was no actual measurement for the amount of time that Sakura stood there wondering when the right time to get her check would be. Any normal person would have just walked into the office, and asked the very simple question, "May I please have my check?" but Sakura, for the most part, was not just any normal person. She, plainly put, was Kinomoto Sakura, a girl who minded manners too much to the extent that it became a hindrance.

Upon reading the former, it should come as no surprise that a sudden placement of a thick piece of parchment overshadowing Sakura's vision startled her, to say the least. Sakura's mind, on the other hand, couldn't process just what exactly was on her face, and why it was there. "Paper?" Sakura muttered confused after a while of processing lead her to deduce that the thing on her head was indeed paper.

"Your check, to be exact," the deep voice of Syaoran corrected.

"Oh," Sakura let out, not sure what word would completely convey what she wanted to get out.

"Yes, you're very welcome," Syaoran said to, sort of, taunt Sakura.

At that mild ridiculing statement, Sakura blushed a color that was a few shades short of being considered plum, "Oh, sorry, and thank you."

"You know, Kinomoto-san," Syaoran began as his eyes narrowed, slightly, as Sakura, "you don't always have to apologize. It's get irritating at times."

"Sorry."

"You did it again," he, blatantly stated.

"Sorry," Sakura accidentally slipped before she could manage to bite her tongue down to prevent the word from coming forth.

Syaoran, to Sakura's astonishment, didn't scold her, like always. "It's okay, you're always like that anyways."

"Oh," Sakura squeaked.

"Yeah, oh," Syaoran muttered with his deep voice as he grinned at her.

"Well," Sakura dragged as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt, "I should get going. Bye Li-san."

Syaoran, in response to Sakura's farewell, just took Sakura by her left hand, and dragged her to an alternate exit out of the building that she had never seen before. "Don't get scared," Syaoran whispered, almost inaudible, "it'd be a huge scandal if you suddenly died here."

"I wouldn't die, and I'm not scared," Sakura proclaimed half-heartedly. Sakura, the moment Syaoran uttered those words, disconnected their, only moments earlier, entwined hands. The scene had changed, and now presented itself with a Sakura that was tearing up and a Syaoran that just stood there looking at Sakura unconcerned.

"Stop crying," Syaoran ordered.

"I'm not crying, leave me alone. Just show me the exit, and I'll be on my merry way," Sakura softly spoke as she turned her head to an angle that would prevent Syaoran from seeing her shed thetears that she denied shedding. It always amazed Sakura that Syaoran's deep, husky and sexy voice, which always evoked a reaction form her, could be so mean and judgmental when dealing with her.

"Don't turn your head, I saw you crying, and don't try to run away," Syaoran muttered as he drew closer to where Sakura was trying, with no avail, to conceal the fact that she, indeed, was crying. The reason Syaoran talked so low was, simply, because he was losing his voice. Last night's escapades were catching up with him today.

It took very little time for Syaoran to reach Sakura, and when he was within Sakura's breathing space, he pinched her nose. "That's what you get, now hurry up," Syaoran said as he grabbed one of Sakura's free hands.

"You have work," Sakura sniffed.

"I thought you were mad at me," Syaoran stated haughtily with a grin as if he knew something Sakura didn't.

Sakura, in response, took back her hand that was enclosed in Syaoran's own, and just cradled her arms together across her chest as a pout graced her lips. Syaoran just looked at Sakura through the corner of his eyes as he, lightly, shook his head. Sakura, seeing Syaoran's head shake in a disapproving manner, blushed, not that there was a reason to blush.

When Sakura and Syaoran were outside of the building, Syaoran asked Sakura, "Kinomoto-san, do you happen to have a hat, a scarf, and a glasses or shades?"

"No," Sakura answered as clung tighter to the bag at her side.

"Liar," Syaoran accused of Sakura.

"I am not lying."

"You are, I saw you with it earlier!" Syaoran, lightly, growled at Sakura.

"Stop stalking me," Sakura replied nonchalantly.

"I wouldn't stalk you, just give it to me, or I'll be spotted," Syaoran commanded Sakura, obviously annoyed. Sakura didn't utter a word, and handed Syaoran the contents that he asked for.

The whole walk was silent as Sakura and Syaoran walked a foot away from each other. "Would it kill you to walk beside me instead of lagging behind like you're some sort of child?" Syaoran asked quietly without the hint of irritation or annoyance that he, usually, spoke with when dealing with Sakura. Syaoran, to his displeasure, was greeted by silence.

Sakura kept their walking distance the same as she sighed. Sakura just wallowed in self pity, as she thought about how Syaoran wouldn't stalk her because she meant nothing to him, that she failed to notice a pair of stunning amber eyes looking in her direction with worry.

After about fifteen minutes of walking they reached an old building, and Syaoran whispered, "we're here."

"This is a library!" Sakura exclaimed joyously as they entered the building. Sakura's eyes sparkled with joy as she gazed at the book filled shelves lined row by row in every single corner of the room. "Li-san," Sakura asked amazed, "why are we here?"

Syaoran just smiled secretly at the happy Sakura, but hid his smile once a figure emerged from the shadows the shelves offered. "Welcome, cousin," the figure spoke. When the figure moved out of the shadows, it revealed a young woman with striking ruby eyes staring at the eyes of the famous super model looking as if they wouldn't be backing down anytime soon.

"If you stare at me any longer, your ugliness will brush off, cousin," Syaoran spoke to the woman arrogantly.

Syaoran pulled Sakura over to him, and put his hands atop Sakura's head, and spoke, "Kinomoto-san, that excuse for a woman is Li Meiling, my cousin. Cousin, this here is Kinomoto Sakura."

"Ah, Kinomoto-san," Meiling began, "you're my new employee."

"She's your only employee," Syaoran interrupted.

"So Kinomoto-san-

"Call me Sakura," Sakura interrupted.

"No one seems to let me finish my sentence," Meiling said as she smiled at Sakura.

"Sorry," Sakura automatically responded.

"Stop apologizing," Syaoran stated, his irritancy coming back, "especially to Meiling. She needs neither your sympathy nor your apology."

"Shut up Syaoran," Meiling scolded in Syaoran's direction before she returned to smiling warmly at Sakura, "anyways Sakura-chan, it'll be fun working with me. So what do you say?"

Sakura's face brightened at the prospect of having a job so quickly, so she happily replied, "I'd love too, Li-san."

"It's Meiling to you."

"Okay."

"You don't have to be so happy," Syaoran said to interrupt the happy mood that was engulfing the while room.

"Syaoran, don't you have work to get to," Meiling said to get rid of Syaoran's depressing mood.

"Gladly," Syaoran retorted.

Before Syaoran left, he said, "bye Kinomoto-san, I'll come here tomorrow to check on how you're doing."

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't want you to come back, she looked like she didn't want to have anything to do with you earlier," Meiling bit back at Syaoran.

Syaoran, to Sakura's heart's dismay, smirked, and pushed Sakura's hair behind her ears, and muttered quietly, but loud enough for Meiling to hear, "now why would Kinomoto-san be dissatisfied with me when she, clearly, loves me. Isn't that right, Kinomoto-san?"

Sakura, in turn, blushed till her cheeks flamed apple red. With that said, Syaoran departed the old building. Sakura, however, just stood still, not wanting to Meiling to see her tinted cheeks.

"Turn around, and face me, Sakura-chan," Meiling mildly commanded Sakura. When Sakura did turn around, her cheeks still colored, Meiling spoke kindly, with a hint of sympathy, to Sakura, "my cousins weird, isn't her? Well, don't mind him, he's just mad at me because I got him hopelessly drunk last night, and made him, temporarily, lose the full extent of his voice."

Sakura just smiled widely at her employee and boss.

End

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I will, honestly, tell you that I have been lazy. This chapter is also shorter, and I like it like that. The upcoming chapters will be somewhere along this wave length.

Also, please excuse any errors that might have appeared while you read my fan fiction. I was too lazy to proofread it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own ccs.

"So, this is strictly a fiction book library," Sakura said aloud as she wandered about the book shelves. Today, currently, marked her first day for working at the library Meiling owned.

"Basically," Meiling said as she perused the stack of books atop her desk.

"No non fiction books present?" Sakura wondered, a smile slowly gracing her lips.

"Yeah," Meiling answered without having to even process the question.

"Amazing," Sakura quietly whispered as she smiled. Suddenly, Sakura furrowed her eyebrows together in a cute manner reminiscent of a little child. "Am I allowed to read the books here?" Sakura asked, hoping that she would be allowed to.

"Read as much as you want," Meiling responded as she continued to peruse the books on her desk. When Meiling finally looked up from what she was doing, she noticed that Sakura was nowhere to be seen. "Sakura-chan," Meiling called out as she departed the paper work area, and looked at the countless bookshelves.

Meiling was about to enter the hall of bookshelves to fetch Sakura when Sakura emerged from one of the corners of the library. "I love this library!" Sakura exclaimed joyously as she lightly skipped towards Meiling.

Meiling grinned at Sakura when she boasted proudly, "it's great, isn't it?"

"Very much so," Sakura gladly agreed.

"Anyways," Meiling began as she walked to a table filled with books on top, "we should be opening soon." At this, Sakura nodded her head. "Oh, by the way," Meiling said as she grabbed a few books from the table, and placed them on a cart, "don't expect a lot of people to come."

"Oh," Sakura murmured.

Meiling scratched the back of her head, "I just don't want you to be depressed or anything."

"I won't be, I'm used to it already," Sakura said as she helped Meiling move the books onto the cart. When the cart looked full, they pushed the cart to a random bookshelf that wasn't completely filled. As Meiling started climbing the ladder, that was placed there, when, out of the blue, Sakura spoke, "this library looks new. I mean, the building, itself, looks old, but everything in here looks recent."

"That's probably because it is," Meiling said as she placed the books on the shelves. By the time Meiling got back down from the ladder, Sakura started placing books on the empty shelves that were within her height range.

"Really, how long has this library been open then?" Sakura asked after she and Meiling had finished placing the books on the shelves.

"Well," Meiling started as the both of them walked back to the table to retrieve more books to sort, "I've been in Tokyo for about a week now, and this library has been open for about a day now."

"Wow."

"Yeah, short, isn't?"

"Well, I would have never guessed that it was that short," Sakura said sheepishly as she placed more books on the shelves.

Sakura and Meiling continued to sort the books into their proper shelves for another two hours. As soon as they finished, Meiling and Sakura sat down on one of the sofas. "I'm too tired to do anything more today," Meiling said accompanied by tired, heavy inhales and exhales of air.

Sakura, on the other hand, had a fantasy romance book in her hands, and opened the book to the first page. Sakura began to read her book that was mainly about how an actor, on location, meets a very pale girl that he falls in love with. The girl, unbeknownst to the actor, is, actually, a sprite that has lost her magical necklace, preventing her from returning home.

"Hey Sakura-chan," Meiling said as Sakura was already five pages in her book.

"Yes," Sakura answered not moving her eyes away from the book.

"Do you, honestly, love my cousin?" Meiling asked, her voice low, and her eyes downcast with pity for Sakura.

The question, naturally, made Sakura blush as she, hurriedly, snapped her book closed. Her reaction caused Meiling to, involuntarily, giggle lightly. After Sakura managed to calm down her racing heart, she whispered with a hint of melancholy, "it is unrequited."

Meiling smiled sadly at Sakura, "he's not a bad person. I know he acts all perfect in front of the cameras and people he doesn't really know, but he, believe it or not, has a good heart."

"I know," Sakura said wistfully as she gently smiled. Sakura took a deep breath of air before she continued, "he's mean to me, but I can say, not that it's much to brag about, that he doesn't detest me as much as leads me to believe."

"You make it seem like he hates you."

"Well, he makes it appear that way."

Meiling walked over to Sakura, and patted her head. She smiled kindly at Sakura before she walked over to a window that showed her the crowded city that was called Tokyo. "I'm pretty sure he loves you," Meiling said airily.

"No, I'm positively sure that he doesn't. He told me, when I first confessed my infatuation that I held for him, my feelings were going to turn out to be useless. I mean, I could try, as much as possible, to make him like me, but they would all be for naught," Sakura murmured as her eyes began to become glossy.

Meiling continued to stare out the window as she asked lowly, "so what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, try my best to change his mind, I suppose. His contract thing ends in two years, so until then I want to be with him. I don't really care if he considers our outings as nothing, but they mean a lot to me. I like to consider them as dates, despite his, apparent, aversion for the word," Sakura answered as she cried silent tears.

Meiling waited until Sakura stopped crying before she asked Sakura, "can you promise me something, Sakura-chan?"

"Depends on what it is," Sakura responded as she wiped her tears away.

"Just promise me that you'll forgive Syaoran," Meiling asked, a tone of desperation coming forth.

"You don't even need to ask," Sakura stated to Meiling's delight, "my father taught me to always forgive."

"You're a good girl, Sakura-chan," Meiling said quickly as she ran to lock the doors of the library's entrance.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked as she looked at Meiling weirdly. When Sakura walked closer to Meiling, she saw who Meiling was trying to irritate. Outside the see –through doors, was Li Syaoran in disguise. He looked pissed, to Sakura's opinion, and he was glaring right at his cousin that was just laughing at him.

Sakura walked right up to Meiling's side, and waved at Syaoran. He, to Meiling's pleasure, looked like he became more irritated than usual. "That reminds me, Meiling-san," Sakura said as she smiled at Syaoran, who chose to sit by the door, "I have somewhere I need to be. I promised to meet someone during lunch."

"You're free to leave," Meiling spoke, "but be sure to use the back door. I fear that when I unlock this door, my dear cousin will unleash his fury on you because you're so easy to rile up."

Sakura nodded her head at Meiling before she left through the back door. Meiling waited for five minutes, to be on the safe side, before unlocking the door. When she, finally, did open up the door for Syaoran to enter through, Syaoran placed his right hand on Meiling's head, and gritted out, "Oh no, you're not going anywhere."

For ten minutes, the library became a battle ground for the two Li cousins who were trying to get back at the other. After the end of the ten minutes, the two cousins became tired, and sat on different sofas. The first to speak up was Meiling, who whined, "Syaoran, you messed up my library."

"Shut up," was Syaoran's curt reply.

"Do you happen to not realize how long Sakura and I slaved over sorting these books out?" Meiling scolded Syaoran.

"Like I said earlier, shut up! You're irritating me, and where did Sakura go? I came to make sure that your sharp yellow fangs did not eat her," Syaoran responded to his cousin.

"She had a prior engagement with someone," Meiling told Syaoran as she closed her eyes to give them a bit of a rest.

"That crybaby didn't tell me about it," Syaoran said, annoyed at Sakura for leaving him alone with his cousin.

"And you wonder why she chooses not to tell you," Meiling drawled out, much to Syaoran's aggravation.

"It's none of your business."

"I just do not understand how someone as loving and sweet as her could like someone like you?" Meiling exclaimed exasperated.

"Is that jealousy I detect?" Syaoran asked Meiling as he smirked.

"You know I love you, Syaoran, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Syaoran answered as he brushed back locks of his hair.

"Then you should understand, then, why I'm worried about you. Even your mother is worried," Meiling said as she positioned herself so that she was lying on the sofa. Syaoran was silent, so Meiling continued, "it's not healthy to just keep sleeping with different women night after night."

"I do not sleep with them night after night," Syaoran calmly corrected, "just once or twice a week."

"They're all different girls!" Meiling cried out, "You don't even sleep with them twice. You make them out to be whores, and for all you know, they could be infected with whatever the hell you can get infected with!"

"Why would I, possibly, sleep with them twice? I don't want them to think that they're special to me, and in order for them to do it with me, they get tested first. They show me their doctor's report," Syaoran replied without a hint of hesitation or shame.

"I wonder what Sakura-chan would think about you when she finds out your dirty little secret?" Meiling asked no one in particular.

"I haven't slept with anyone for three weeks now," Syaoran, too, said to no one in particular.

"I bet that she'd still have a problem with it," Meiling said as she gave a sad smile in Syaoran's direction.

"I'll deal with it when it happens," Syaoran told Meiling as he got up from the sofa, "I need to get back to work."

"Bye, Syaoran," Meiling murmured right before she closed her eyes to take a brief nap.

End

I will be updating more quickly because I'm in a hurry to finish this story. There should be about four more chapters left.

Please excuse any grammatical errors that might have arisen whilst you read this chapter, I was too lazy to proofread.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own ccs.

"The café's doing fine," Kei replied after Sakura had questioned the well being of his family owned café. Kei had been, if it wasn't obvious by now, the person whom Sakura had a prior engagement with. The reason as to why Sakura was meeting with him will become evident soon enough.

"That's good to hear," Sakura, honestly, said. Sakura, believe it or not, considered Kei's family one of her own.

"Yeah"

"So…..why did you want to meet?" Sakura asked shortly after to get rid of the awkward that quickly ensued.

"Ah, no reason, really, I was just bored," Kei said off handedly.

"It's amazing," Sakura remarked, "what I'm used for."

"I didn't mean it that way," Kei replied earnestly while waving his hands frantically before his face, "I just wanted to ask a favor of you."

"Oh, go ahead then," Sakura said as she fingered the red balloon that Kei presented her when they first met up earlier. They were, currently, at a park that was, to Sakura's relief, not crowded. In actuality, it was the farthest thing from being crowded because, presently, Sakura and Kei were the only ones at the park.

"Would you mind going on a date with me?" Kei asked Sakura, his nervousness coming forth.

"Oh," was Sakura's only reply.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to you formally," Kei muttered with a sad smile.

"Goodbye," Sakura whispered, "but why?"

"Well, it seems as though we have run into a hole. To put it simply, our family business isn't faring as well as it should be. We're in the process of closing down the café, and we're moving to Niigata. My older brother bought us a home to stay in, so, basically, we're all set."

"Oh," Sakura said again, but this time it was tinged with a hint of misery.

"Yeah"

"When are you leaving?" Sakura gloomily asked.

"In three days," Kei said bitterly.

At this, Sakura began to get confused. "Three days," Sakura whispered thinking over the amount of time Kei had left in Tokyo.

"Yeah"

"But then," Sakura inquired, "when are we going on the date?"

"Today, if possible," Kei said looking at Sakura as he awaited his answer.

"I'm on my lunch break," Sakura said.

"Oh"

"But you can come with me to my work, I'm pretty sure my boss won't mind. She's really nice," Sakura said as began to drag Kei along with her.

"Where do you work at?" Kei asked as he was being dragged by Sakura.

"A library!" Sakura exclaimed proudly.

Kei just looked at Sakura weirdly, and muttered as they sped up their walking pace, "I've never known a person to be so excited about a library."

By the time Sakura and Kei opened the door to the library, they looked as if they had run a marathon, which, of course, was very unlike Sakura. "That," Sakura breathed out, tiredly, "is the reason why I barely passed my physical education class."

"I," Kei breathed coarsely, "am beyond tired."

"Now what do we have here," Meiling stated as she smirked at the two dead beat people who seated themselves on one of the sofas. Meiling, seeing as there was nothing else to do, sat beside the tired twosome.

"This is Kugyo Kei," Sakura introduced.

"Pleasure," Meiling said as she gladly shook Kei's hand, "Li Meiling."

"Nice to meet you"

"Oh," Sakura said shortly after, "I hope you don't mind that I brought Kei-kun to work with me today. We are on a library date because he's leaving in three days. "

"Nope," Meiling said as she smiled widely thinking about what time her dear cousin would arrive, "the more the merrier."

"I told you she was nice," Sakura said as she grabbed Kei, and brought him to the romance section of the all fiction library.

"Romance section," Kei awkwardly said as he glanced at the books that surrounded him.

"My favorite section," Sakura, gleefully, declared as she sighed when she fingered the lettering on the books.

"I didn't know you were a book person," Kei said as he laid down on the floor in between the bookshelves.

"Oh, but I am, an absolute book freak," Sakura said as she, too, laid down next to Kei with a book in tow.

"I'm leaving in three days, read to me the first few pages," Kei said as he closed his eyes to take in whatever Sakura was about to read.

"Even though it's a romance story," Sakura inquired as she opened the book to the first page.

"I don't mind"

Sakura waited until they were both settled and comfortable before she began reading. "White is supposed to represent purity, and all things sacred in this life. White is the constant serene pond in an ever changing time tunnel. White is the color my family and everyone in my village holds dear. White is the color my village promotes each individual to achieve. White is the color all my friends speak of when it comes to romance. White is the color that surrounds my everyday life. Why is it, then, that I cannot see white? Why has the color white eluded my eyes? Why is the only color these searching eyes of mine can see is the murky disgraceful black? The black my village shuns, and the black that drives one so pure to the deepest levels of devastation. Why is it that when I glance at a person I see their clean hearts muddied by the black I, unintentionally, give them? Why?"

"Are you sure it's a romance story?" Kei asked after Sakura read aloud a miniscule portion of the book.

"Positive," replied Sakura without even sparing one glance in Kei's direction.

"It doesn't sound like it," Kei stated as he played with the strands of Sakura's hair.

"It's just the first paragraph," Sakura answered as she took a handful strand of her hair. Sakura looked at her hair for a while before muttering, "I think I should dye my hair platinum blonde, and, probably, a little trim."

"What's wrong with red?" Kei inquired.

"I'm tired of it," Sakura, easily, responded.

"Oh, is your hair naturally red?"

"No, it's light brown," Sakura stated as she placed the open book squarely on her stomach.

"Oh"

Afterwards, Kei took the book from Sakura, and continued to read where Sakura had left off. At least, that's how Meiling saw it.

That's how the day rolled out. For about three hours, Kei read the romance novel aloud while Meiling read a novel of her own at the front counter.

Naturally, since the three people went on their merry way doing whatever they saw fit, none of them noticed a certain someone enter through the library doors. The certain someone who, unsurprisingly, was Li Syaoran, walked up to the counter where his dear cousin, currently, presided, and coughed.

"Why are you here early?" Meiling asked as she looked up to see who, so rudely, interrupted her from her much desired reading time.

"Nothing to do," Syaoran replied lamely.

"Don't you have work?"

"That commercial thing finished this morning, and I've been bored the whole day," Syaoran replied, getting irritated with Meiling's, at least to him, interrogation.

"You returning to China now?" Meiling inquired delighted.

"Why are you happy?"

"No reason"

"Don't let me hit you," Syaoran told Meiling as he glared at her, "besides, I have runway shows."

Syaoran laid his head down on the front counter and sighed as he wondered, to himself, why Sakura had not popped out and greeted him yet. Everyone knew she loved him, the looks on her face whenever he was around was proof enough. "Sakura," he whispered.

"Huh"

"Where's Sakura?" Syaoran asked Meiling, irritated that she didn't understand what he meant when he first said her name.

"Sakura, huh," Meiling said.

"Obviously"

"Why do you refer to her as Kinomoto-san in front of her face?" Meiling inquired.

"It's complicated," Syaoran answered as his eyes wandered the shelves of the library. "What the hell," Syaoran muttered as his eyes landed on two figure lying on the floor, one of which, was playing with the other's waist length hair.

Meiling, after hearing Syaoran's out of the blue curse, followed where Syaoran eyes were, and muttered as she smiled at Syaoran's reaction, "Oh, that's Kei-_kun_."

"More like I'll punch his face soon -kun," Syaoran murmured, trying to keep his anger down. He waited for a minute to see whether or nor the two had noticed his sudden appearance. When neither of the two noticed his presence within the library, he intentionally dragged a random book from the counter, and let it hit the floor with a, rather, loud thud.

With the sudden sound of a book dropping onto the floor, the two who were, only moments earlier, reading a book to each other out loud, jump up startled. The boy, Kei, hid his head, and had to rest for moment while clutching onto his head. At that, Syaoran only smirked happily. The girl, Sakura, upon seeing who had dropped the book smiled, unknown to Kei, widely.

When Sakura had finished helping Kei up, they both walked up to where the two awaiting cousins stood. One happy, the other pissed because the girl, Sakura, blew, as a means of comfort, the imaginary bump the boy received when he bumped his head earlier. "He looks mean," Kei, to Syaoran's discomfort, whispered in Sakura's ear.

"He kind of is," Sakura replied as she, too, whispered back. When Sakura glanced at Kei from the corner of her eyes, she noticed a sudden color loss in his face. She grabbed his hand, and whispered to him, "don't worry, he's nice if you get on his good side."

When the two, finally, reached their intended destination, Syaoran slapped their connected hands, and stated arrogantly, "holding hands with just any guy is considered sluttish."

"Come here, Sakura-chan," Meiling said as she dragged Sakura away to look at where Syaoran slapped herm along with Kei's, hand, "and don't mind him."

Once Meiling and Sakura were not within the allotted area to be considered within hearing distance, Kei told Syaoran, "you like Sakura-chan, don't you?"

"What are you doing here?" Syaoran asked rudely.

"Just on a date with Sakura-chan," Kei stated airily as he grinned at Syaoran.

"I feel sorry for her," Syaoran said as he pretended to read a book on the counter.

"Why," Kei inquired, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Oh you know," Syaoran murmured as he looked at Kei from the corner of his eye, "just sad that she has to be so nice, and go on a pity date with you."

"Well, I feel sorry for you," Kei stated haughtily after getting riled up by Syaoran's statement.

"You know you don't mean that"

"I do because it's so obvious that you like her, but I know for a fact that she doesn't like you! You're not her type!" Kei yelled at Syaoran.

"I am everything she desires in a man!" Syaoran yelled back at Kei, infuriated.

"She doesn't like blonde men!"

"Blonde?" Syaoran repeated confused.

"Your hair is blonde, or haven't you noticed," Kei stated, his anger all but dissipated by now.

"Oh," Syaoran, lamely, released as he remembered that he had a disguise on.

"She likes older men," Kei sadly said, but then continued after he looked at Syaoran's face, "and no, you may be older than her, but you're not old enough. I have this sixth sense where I can immediately tell if a person likes someone based on the look they show only when in the presence of that certain someone. Anyways, I saw her with this man that looked to be in his mid forties, and she showed _that_ look."

Syaoran, realizing that the person whom the boy, Kei, was talking about was him in one of his disguises just smiled. "You should just give up," Syaoran told the boy happily.

"Why are you so happy?" Kei asked skeptically.

"No reason"

"Whatever," Kei whispered, depressed, as Sakura and Meiling approached the both of them. "I need to get going," he said as he began to walk to the doors of the library, "goodbye, Sakura-chan."

"I'll come see you off," Sakura said as she ran so that she was next to Kei. Before she left, though, she yelled happily at Meiling, "bye, Meiling-chan," and shyly at Syaoran, "bye, Li-san."

Meiling waved while Syaoran just ignored Sakura. After Meiling made sure the two left, she dragged Syaoran to a sofa that made it hard for them to see who came in the library. "Really now, Syaoran," Meiling scolded Syaoran, "calling Sakura sluttish!"

"Shut up"

"You really have the nerve calling Sakura sluttish. You do realize that she's still a virgin, she hasn't even had her first kiss yet!"

"Neither have I"

"So, you've slept with how many different types of women, though," Meiling said as she looked, helplessly, at her cousin.

"Y-y-you what?" Sakura stuttered, surprised by her newfound information. She had, simply, returned to retrieve her purse that she left behind when she lied down on the carpet earlier.

"Sakura-chan!" Meiling shouted surprised.

"I should get going," Sakura whispered as she left her head down, so that neither Meiling nor Syaoran could see her tears that were threatening to fall. Sakura's couldn't control her emotions as one tear slipped from her face, and landed on the floor. With that, Sakura ran out of the fiction library.

Syaoran, on the other hand, just stared in horror as Sakura departed the library. "Sakura," he whispered before he sat down on the couch looking like he had died, and then had been revived.

End

If there are any mistakes, I was too lazy to proofread.

Asian dramas are dangerous.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS

Meiling was stirring cream into her cup of coffee when her cousin entered their kitchen. He looked a complete mess, his hair was more disarrayed than it usually was, and his lack of response made it seem as though he was in the room but wasn't in the room. "You do realize," Meiling said off handedly as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, "that you have a show today."

Syaoran, ignoring Meiling's comment, took a cup, and poured coffee into it. Without adding any sugar or cream, he drank the coffee as he opened the pantry, looking for his favorite brand of cereal. "Stupid," Syaoran muttered as he gave up looking for his favorite brand of cereal that, as it so happens, was not there.

"Did you say something?"

"I said," Syaoran loudly said as he perused the refrigerator looking for food to consume, "did I not provide you with an adequate amount of money to restock this house while I was at my photo shoot."

"You didn't say that," Meiling slyly said as she twirled her spoon around with her index finger.

"I'm saying it now, aren't I," Syaoran glowered at Meiling.

Meiling lifted both of her hands up in midair as she mockingly stated, "you don't have to be so angry about it."

"I'm not angry, I'm just stressed, so why didn't you buy food," Syaoran replied after he had calmed himself down.

"I was busy, you know," Meiling began, "for some odd reason, not that I'm not happy, the library's been busy. It's good news, actually, but I've had to do a lot of work. Anyways, Sakura and I were jam packed with work that I, unconsciously, forgot to buy food."

"What a load of bullshit," Syaoran murmured as he took another sip of his coffee.

"I'm, honestly, telling the truth," Meiling hurriedly replied.

"Liar"

"Okay," Meiling gave in, "I might have exaggerated. We were busy, mind you."

"You were lazy," Syaoran pointed out wit a glare.

"I fell asleep," Meiling corrected.

"What about the library?"

"Sakura"

"Lazy," Syaoran repeated again.

"So what," Meiling replied, aggravated.

"Where's the money?" Syaoran asked as he glared at Meiling.

"In my wallet," Meiling stated as she saw Syaoran move to the living room, and sit down on the couch. Meiling walked to where Syaoran sat, and encircled his head within her arms. "What's wrong, dear cousin?" Meiling, sadly, asked Syaoran.

Syaoran, just, sighed as he murmured, barely audible, "nothing."

"Are you depressed because you haven't seen sweet Sakura-chan in two weeks," Meiling whispered into his ear.

Syaoran, after hearing Meiling's question, pushed her away, and went to shower.

Meiling, after Syaoran was out of hearing distance, muttered, "idiot."

After twenty minutes had passed, Syaoran entered the living room wearing a white polo shirt coupled with a newly pressed black tie and pant. His feet wore fancy black dress shoes, and his left hand held a white gold watch encrusted with tiny diamonds. His head sported a finely combed mop of black hair, while his eyes sparkled an amazing hue of gray.

"Where are you headed?" Meiling asked, clearly amused.

"Grocery shopping," Syaoran, gently, stated as he placed thin silver rimmed glassed on the bridge of his nose.

"Wearing a Rolex," Meiling skeptically said.

"All part of the image," Syaoran said as he patted his side pocket to make sure that his wallet was there.

"And what," Meiling asked, "is this image that you're trying to portray?"

"A rich businessman buying food, obviously," Syaoran replied as he looked at Meiling as if she was the weirdest person on the earth.

"On a lovely Saturday morning, such as this"

"I was driving to work, on a lovely Saturday morning, because I am a dedicated businessman. As I was in the elevator, awaiting the moment when the elevator would 'bing' indicating that I had reached the floor I desired to reach, I realized that today was the day my girlfriend, who was overseas for three long, torturous months, would be returning. I immediately left the building, and rushed to a random supermarket to buy food for the home cooked meal that I would be preparing."

"But aren't rich businessmen supposed to be famous," Meiling asked as Syaoran walked to the door.

"Not when Li Syaoran's in town," Syaoran, smugly, replied as he turned the doorknob.

"Cocky, much"

"Never," Syaoran said as he smiled at Meiling before closing the door. Why exactly was Syaoran so happy? Well, it was simple, really. Syaoran had devised a plan wherein he would visit all the places that Sakura loved to go. She mentioned before when they went on their, so-called, outings. She said that she loved books, but the library was ruled out because she already worked at a library. Sakura said she loved regular parks where she could walk her dog in peace, amusement parks that weren't crowded, ice cream parlors, and her home.

The amusement parks were crowded today, so that was, definitely, crossed off the list. He didn't know where she lived, so that was a no. The only options left were quiet parks and ice cream parlors. Syaoran decided to wander around Tokyo in his silver corvette looking for empty or uncrowded parks because ice cream parlors tended to be filled with females waiting to eat him up whether or not they knew he was Li Syaoran or not.

"Please don't let her be home," Syaoran kept mumbling to himself after searching twelve parks, three of which were uncrowded, none empty. After spending two hours driving around Tokyo looking through a total of eighteen parks, Syaoran gave up the notion that she was in any park.

His next bet was to go through ice cream parlors, but he wasn't in the mood to parade through a band of raging female hormones bothering him every second. Seeing as he needed to prep up for his show that would commence in about nine hours, he decided to give up on finding Sakura today. Besides, he could always walk into the library with a disguise, again.

Syaoran began to calculate the amount of time he had before he, actually, had to report to the show. It usually took him one hour to find a place to eat lunch at, another hour to actually do the eating, another hour to get there because he had driven quite far. When he, eventually, would arrive, there would be rehearsals for how the designer would want them to walk down the runway; it, usually, depended on what type of clothes they were modeling. Then, of course, there was the wardrobe problem because they would line the models up, and decide what they want them to wear. That usually took quite a bit of time because people were picky, lucky for him; he was a superstar which, basically, enabled him to get the best. Finally, there would be make-up before the show started.

"I'm busy," Syaoran said to no one as he drove around looking for a place to eat lunch at. He drove past countless of restaurants and hotels not finding a place he was in the mood for. That was the reason he took an hour to decide on the place, he was extremely picky.

As Syaoran was continued to drive, he immediately stepped on the brake pedal as a girl ran in front of his car. Luckily, he stopped the car in time, shouting, "What the fuck!?" Syaoran got out of his car, severely pissed, walking his way to where the girl sat clutching at her dog that he supposed she was trying to save. "Sakura," Syaoran said, surprised, to see the girl he was seeking out right in front of him.

"Do I know you," Sakura, hesitantly, asked as she glanced at Syaoran, still clutching at her dog. After she took a while to further examine the man in front of her, she whispered, "Li-san," realizing it was Syaoran in disguise.

"Kinomoto-san," Syaoran said, his demeanor returning to normal, "why are you here?" Syaoran glanced around him to see that he was holding up traffic, and that he was attracting unwanted stares.

He proceeded to help Sakura up when she recoiled from his touch, and stuttered, "I-I-I'm fi-fine. I-I can get u-up on my ow-own."

"Just let me help you, we're stalling traffic," Syaoran said, confused that Sakura avoided his touch because, usually, she lived for it. Well, not really, but you get the meaning.

"I-I'm fine!" Sakura said louder this time as she used Syaoran's car as support to lift her up from the road.

"I'll drive you home, you're hurt" Syaoran said as tried to help Sakura out.

"I told you I'm fine," Sakura whispered as she turned her back on Syaoran despite the fact that parts of her body hurt.

"You're not fine"

"I can get home on my own," Sakura told Syaoran as she turned to face him again.

"Just get in the damn car!" Syaoran yelled at her.

"I-I," Sakura stuttered as she sucked large amounts of air to keep herself from crying. Syaoran walked up to her, trying to grab a hold of her hand, but Sakura rejected him as she whispered, her face red, "I can do it myself."

Syaoran gave one glance in Sakura's direction before he got into the driver's seat. When Sakura and her dog were safely in the car, he started the engine, and drove in the direction of the hospital that serviced him. "I'm bringing you to my hospital," Syaoran told Sakura.

"You don't need to," Sakura mumbled as she stared out the window, her dog licking at her fingers.

"You have bruises and scrapes"

"It's nothing a few disinfectants and band-aids can't fix," Sakura replied, still not sparing him a glance.

"Damnit, Sakura! Can you please stop being so difficult?" Syaoran scolded Sakura, his temper, obviously, going up.

"Sorry"

"No, I'm sorry," Syaoran apologized as he heard Sakura sniff, and he saw her trying to cover up her tears with her free hand, "I know you don't like it when I curse, and when I get mad at you."

Throughout the whole ride, neither Sakura nor Syaoran said anything to each other. When they finally reached the hospital, Sakura, again, refused help from Syaoran. Syaoran, not knowing what to do with Sakura, just sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Just wait here," Syaoran commanded Sakura as he went inside to find someone to escort Sakura inside.

"Now look what you've done Kero," Sakura, lightly, scolded Kero, her dog, as she flinched while she poked a scrape she received.

"I don't recommend you do that," a man, clad in a white robe, stated as he approached Sakura. "I'm Dr. Horiuchi, nice to meet you. Now why don't I hold your dog for you," Horiuchi calmly offered Sakura as he took hold of Sakura's left hand as he led her into the hospital.

Syaoran stood by as he watched Sakura enter the hospital without any objections when he held her hand. He locked his car after Sakura departed, and took out his cell phone. "Hello, Ichimura-san, I can't make it to the show tonight," Syaoran told his Japan manager.

By the time Syaoran approached the room where Sakura was, she was nearly finished being bandaged up. When he, eventually, did enter the room, Sakura dropped her head to avoid making contact with Syaoran's, current, gray eyes. "Is everything fine?" Syaoran asked, intending for Sakura to answer.

Alas, answer she did not. Instead, the doctor spoke up, "everything's fine. She just needs to keep putting the medicine I gave her, so it clears up quickly."

"That's good to hear. Thank you, Dr. Horiuchi," Syaoran thanked the doctor as he bowed at him.

"I'll be taking my leave now. Goodbye Sakura-san, Li-san," Horiuchi said as he left the room.

Syaoran took off the wig and the contacts before he sat on a sofa near Sakura. He placed them in the trash bin near his seat. He said, "I have a lot more at home," after seeing the look Sakura was giving him. "Where's your dog?" Syaoran asked as his ears were greeted by silence.

"A nurse took him away to feed him," Sakura whispered as a reply.

"I'm sorry," Syaoran said as he approached Sakura. He tried, once again, to take hold of Sakura's hand, but was shunned. When Syaoran tried to touch Sakura's face, so he could make her look him straight in the eye, she moved back.

"I'm fine," Sakura whispered as she offered Syaoran a small smile.

Syaoran gave up, and sat himself down on the sofa, again, but closed his eyes to give himself a little rest. Naturally, since Syaoran closed his eyes, he missed the look Sakura gave him. Well, it was better that he missed it because the looked expressed disappointment, one that Syaoran would not take very well. "We'll just wait till your dog returns," Syaoran mumbled as tried to figure out how to fix things with Sakura.

For about thirty minutes, Syaoran sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, while Sakura just stared at him, her expressions changing from depressed, with her eyebrows furrowed, to embarrassed, with her cheeks glowing a shade of red.

The dog was brought in looking quenched, full, and extremely happy. "Your dog eats quite a lot," the nurse said as she petted Kero on the head before handing him over to Sakura.

"Sorry to trouble you," Sakura apologized.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. It was fun," the young nurse happily laughed while Kero barked.

Syaoran, hearing Kero bark, slowly opened his eyes as he gazed at Sakura happily hugging her dog. The nurse, seeing that the other occupant was none other than Li Syaoran, walked over to him, rather seductively, and sat on his lap, much to Sakura's horror and dismay. "How have you been, Li-san, I haven't seen you since you first arrived in Japan," the nurse whispered into Syaoran's ear, "are you busy tonight?"

"Sorry, I don't do that anymore," Syaoran said as he stood up from the sofa, leaving the nurse by her lonesome one the coach, disappointment evident on her face.

"Such a pity, and I here I thought I'd make Li Syaoran fall in love with me," she said to no one in particular because Syaoran had run out of the room chasing after Sakura who had, earlier, walked out when the nurse, first, sat herself on Syaoran.

"I don't like her," Syaoran explained to Sakura as he caught up with her.

"What you do is none of my business," Sakura sweetly said as she forcibly smiled at Syaoran.

"I'll drive you home," Syaoran offered as they exited the hospital.

"I'm fine on my own," Sakura said as she walked away from Syaoran.

"Why do you always have to make things so hard? I am offering to take care of you! Get over here!" Syaoran shouted at Sakura.

Sakura just stood still as she started to cry, clutching at her aching heart, while her dog barked next to her. "You're always so mean to me," Sakura whispered to herself as she tried to stop herself from crying anymore than she already had.

"Sakura," Syaoran murmured as he stood behind her.

Sakura turned around to face Syaoran, mouthing, "It's Kinomoto," because her heart and throat ached to the point where she was no longer able to make any words of her own.

"Sorry" Syaoran whispered with his deep voice as he went as close to Sakura as he could get without, actually, touching her because he knew that if he had tried to touch her, she'd just turn away. That's how the two stood: one crying, and the other feeling absolutely guilty.

End

Ah, pretty lame chapter, but whatever.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS

"Just great," Syaoran muttered as he read the note Meiling left behind. The note went as follows:

Dear cousin,

I AM HUNGRY! I know for a fact that you didn't go grocery shopping because it is now three o' clock, and you have yet to return. Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, you had a hungry cousin waiting patiently at home for food to arrive. I don't even know why I'm writing this, you're probably at your show thing. But just incase you are home, and are reading this; I'm going to hit you when I get home. If you're not home reading this, I'll hit you when I get back.

Love your hungry and currently pissed cousin,

Meiling

"Stupid idiot, she wouldn't be hungry if she bought food yesterday like I told her to," Syaoran said as he took the note, and gave it to Sakura to read. Yes, Sakura was currently at his home because Syaoran was being an idiot. You see, Syaoran drove Sakura took her apartment in silence, but when they arrived, things didn't proceed as planned. Syaoran just had to work his way into getting inside Sakura's apartment. When Syaoran, finally, went inside her apartment, he ordered Sakura to stay with him. He, apparently, didn't agree with the low class abode.

Sakura, after reading the note, moved towards the sofa, and sat down. "You didn't have to bring me here," Sakura whispered as she held on tighter to her dog, Kero, and a bag filled with some of her clothes.

"Well, I can't feed you until Meiling arrives," Syaoran told Sakura as he placed his keys on the counter. "Shouldn't be long now," Syaoran continued, "she wrote that at three, and it's now half past three."

"Why did you bring me here?" Sakura questioned, a bit louder this time.

"I hate that apartment," Syaoran, bluntly, stated.

"I was just fine in that apartment," Sakura said as she let go of her dog, so that it may freely roam around Syaoran's house.

"Like I said," Syaoran began as he, solely, focused all of his attention on Sakura, "the apartment sucks. There's no heater, and it's cold. The stupid floor was so cold; I don't even know why you don't have a cold, yet. You have no proper bed, and the whole apartment just lacks everything! How can you possibly live there?"

"It's none of your business," Sakura whispered as he turned her head the other direction, so she could avoid Syaoran's gaze.

"Lucky for you," Syaoran said, his irritation showing, "I'm going to let you live here with Meiling and I. We'll just have to retrieve the rest of your belongings tomorrow. You and Meiling, anyways, I'm busy."

"I don't want to live here," Sakura whispered as buried her face in the couch. She, to Syaoran's dismay, started to cry again.

Syaoran, hearing Sakura, sat down on the floor, with his body leaning on the sofa. He sighed before he softly asked, "are you crying again?"

"No," Sakura replied, though most of it was muffled by the sofa and her tears.

"What a liar," Syaoran said as he, lightly, shook his head. Syaoran turned from his position, so that he could view Sakura as she laid down on his sofa. He moved close enough that whenever he breathed, Sakura's skin would tingle. "Am I not even allowed to touch your hair?" Syaoran quietly asked as he blew wisps of air into Sakura ears.

Sakura, in response, jerked up, quickly, towards the end of the couch, her face red as she clutched onto the ear that Syaoran talked into. Her heart was beating over time, despite the fact that, at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to not be touched by him.

Syaoran, seeing that Sakura, thoroughly, detested his being, became momentarily depressed. He ignored what his body and heart was feeling, though, as he sat opposite Sakura, one foot apart.

"You're too close," Sakura said as she backed up as far as possible towards the edge of the couch.

Syaoran, on the other hand, moved a little closer. "I'm not touching you," he whispered as he placed his hands around Sakura's, now frantic, body.

"But still," Sakura tried to argue as she found that she had no place to go to for comfort. Usually, she'd run away by now, but she found it impossible, seeing as any sudden movement from her would cause her to touch Syaoran. Really, the space between Sakura and Syaoran, or lack thereof, resulted in Sakura's breathing and heart beat to rise sporadically.

Syaoran, smirking inwardly to himself, blew softly on Sakura's skin. It really was unlucky for Sakura that she was wearing a simple white cotton spaghetti strap. Well, she was wearing a pale yellow, sheer cover, but she discarded it, earlier, when she entered Syaoran's home because she had used it to dry her tears.

"Stop it," Sakura softly pleaded as her body shook, like it did every time Syaoran blew on her skin. Her goose bumps were showing, and it didn't help that Syaoran could, probably, hear her heart beating out of her chest.

"I'm not doing anything," Syaoran lightly responded as he moved to her neck.

"You are," Sakura weakly said as she found it harder and harder to breathe.

"Tell me what I'm doing then," Syaoran told Sakura as he continued his assault.

Sakura, took Syaoran's delight, couldn't answer. Her whole body became hot, and she found it extremely difficult for her body to operate properly when he just kept messing with her senses. Eventually, Sakura couldn't handle it anymore, and with one final sigh of pleasure, at least to Syaoran's ears, she fainted.

Syaoran, upon finding out that Sakura had fainted, laughed to himself before whispering as he lightly kissed her lips, "you're so cute." He looked at her pink lips as they blew air in and out, her chest rising and falling with each breath she took. He, then, looked at her cheeks that were still pink because of his harassment earlier. Syaoran couldn't help himself as he kissed her lips again as he straightened up her body on the couch. "I, probably, shouldn't have done that," he muttered as he went to find her dog that was, most likely, in Meiling's room making a mess of things.

"There you are," Syaoran said as he took Sakura's dog, Kero, and held him in his arms. He looked at Meiling's room to see that the dog had played with Meiling's secret stash of plush dolls. "Don't worry, Meiling won't be mad at you, it's her fault for leaving her door open, anyways," Syaoran said to the dog as he massaged behind the dog's left ear.

Syaoran resigned himself to sitting on the other sofa, seeing as Sakura occupied the other. Kero, the dog, had run back to Meiling's room once Syaoran sat himself down on the sofa. That had been almost an hour ago, and he surmised that the dog was now fast asleep because he couldn't hear the dog anymore.

"You took your sweet time," Syaoran told Meiling as he went to greet her shortly after he heard her car engine shutting off.

"I suppose," Meiling replied as she bit her cousin's arm.

"You better not have left a mark," Syaoran remarked as he glared at Meiling who was bringing the food into the house. Syaoran, being the kind cousin he thinks he is, took whatever was left of the groceries, and brought it into the house.

Syaoran began placing the food in their appropriate places when Meiling walked in looking bewildered. "Sakura's here," she stated as though it wasn't the most obvious fact.

"Really?" Syaoran asked sardonically as he opened the refrigerator.

"Stop being such a smart ass," Meiling said as she sat on the kitchen counter.

"Stop being such a dumb ass," Syaoran retorted as he was halfway through putting all the food away in their respectable places. "You know," Syaoran said, "it wouldn't kill you to help put the food away."

"I bought the food," Meiling said as opened up a popsicle and ate it.

"It was my money"

"So"

"Just get out while I finish this," Syaoran told Meiling, irritated that she was such a stubborn person that didn't like to listen to him.

"So, what'd you do to Sakura-chan?"Meiling asked when Syaoran walked into the living room.

"What does it matter," Syaoran grunted as he laid down on the carpet in between both Sakura and Meiling.

"She's mad at you, you know. Well, not exactly mad, but she's just disgusted with your nightly activities."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that when she wouldn't let me touch her," Syaoran muttered as he rubbed his eyes with his right hand to show that he was frustrated.

Meiling, despite Syaoran not being in the mood, laughed, "she didn't let you touch her."

"Shut up, you might wake her up," Syaoran scolded Meiling as he got up to walk to his room. Before Syaoran became completely out of sight, he told Meiling, "by the way, not that I care what you think, anyways, Sakura's staying with us from now on. You'll help her get all of her things here, ok?"

"Fine by me," Meiling said, but Syaoran had already departed.

End


End file.
